8 Stillman LaneROOTS CANAL: Colin Powell dances for his massah.
I’m sorry, but any shred of dignity or integrity Colin Powell may have had is now long gone. His continuing Stepin’ Fetchit routine on behalf of the Cheney/Rumsfeld administration is outrageous and embarrassing.
How humiliating. Any man in Powell’s position with the slightest shred of pride or self-respect would have resigned a long time ago.
20 Cherry Valley Road
Whoa, Nelly!
9 Boulder Brook 
The Mad Mullah Your fellow Greenwich residents seem to dispute the return to 2001/2002 prices when I report your considerations.The only "sure knowledge" I'm aware of in real estate is what houses sell for. Which is why I've been pointing out sales of houses at 2001 levels. Are these just anecdotal evidence, belied by over-all sales statistics? I report, you decide; but we'll see when the last quarter sales statistics (all 12 of them) are compiled after the close of the year.
"My house is certainly 'worth' more than what I bought it for in 2001".
Is this sure knowledge or wishful thinking on his behalf? Should I stick to that formula before I start parting with my money?
Self interest the one and only
things that guides Powell.
Powell has no principles he says
and does what he thinks will
help him and that is all that matters
to him.
He is Republican because Republicans
raised him up to Power and because
Republicans were willing to give
him more since he would a rare black
Republican instead of one of money black democrats.
Even as for those stated political
beliefs he is only saying what
he thinks will gain him favor in the
press. So don't think much of him
because he says something you agree
with, let the political winds
and the media change their tune
and he will too.Powell really is a low-life.
Powell is a true Wormtongue.
Posted by Johnny Davis at January 17, 2003 04:25 AM
Dodd refuses to release Countrywide loan documents. 
Bad Gas!KNOXVILLE'S BOOMING DOWNTOWN REAL ESTATE MARKET IS SLOWING, and the problem seems to be a mixture of financing and difficulty selling homes in the 'burbs. Looking around the neighborhoods, my sense is that a lot of people remain unrealistic in their pricing, thinking that by expecting "only" four percent appreciation over the past few years they're pricing low. In fact, the Knoxville market has never really appreciated faster than that. If I were selling my house, I'd probably price it at 2005 levels or even below. And I notice that people who do cut the price seem to sell a lot faster.
and a declining stock price
Many investors, who make up the bulk of active bidders at auctions, say the banks are asking too much for the homes.I wonder if these banks are all owned by Greenwich residents?
The causes of the housing implosion are many: lax regulation, financial innovation gone awry, excessive debt, raw greed. The players are also varied: bankers, borrowers, developers, politicians and bureaucrats.Plenty of blame to go around, I'd say.
Mr. Cisneros, 61, had a foot in a number of those worlds. Despite his qualms, he encouraged the unprepared to buy homes — part of a broad national trend with dire economic consequences.
He reflects often on his role in the debacle, he says, which has changed homeownership from something that secured a place in the middle class to something that is ejecting people from it. “I’ve been waiting for someone to put all the blame at my doorstep,” he says lightly, but with a bit of worry, too.Victor Ramirez and Lorraine Pulido-Ramirez bought a house in Lago Vista in 2002. “This was our first home. I had nothing to compare it to,” Mr. Ramirez says. “I was a student making $17,000 a year, my wife was between jobs. In retrospect, how in hell did we qualify?”
The majority of buyers in Lago Vista “were duped into believing it was easier than it was,” Mr. Ramirez says. “The attitude was, ‘Sign here, sign here, don’t read the fine print.’ ” He added that some fault lay with buyers: “We were definitely willing victims.” (The Ramirez family veered close to foreclosure, but the couple now have good jobs and can make their payments.)
New research by analysts Australian Property Monitors shows real estate agents slashing millions from their initial asking prices for homes in some upmarket areas after only a few weeks or months.I think I'll keep my eye on this Billy Bridges - I get the impression he'd sell one of his listings to his own mother, given the chance. Or find work with Antares.
RP Data analyst Tim Lawless said affected areas include the northern beaches suburbs such as Manly, Warringah and Pittwater.
"House values there have fallen by 10 per cent and the median is now around $900,000, down from just over $1 million in July last year," he said.
Craig Pontey, from Ray White Double Bay, said houses selling for $3 million to $8 million "have come off their highs by 5 to 8 per cent" since the post-2000 boom time. Property analyst Louis Christopher from SQM Research said: "I have met a number of these people who have been utterly wiped out by the sharemarket correction and are looking to offload their property."
Brian Redican, a senior economist with Macquarie Bank, said that until recently the lower half of the top-end market had been shielded from the falling property value trend.
"But the shakeout of the sharemarket has shown signs of forced selling and it's probably true we have seen falls in house prices in that end of the market, but they are relatively small falls," he said.
Liam O'Hara, a senior economist with Australian Property Monitors, said that while well-off areas were starting to feel the pain, the real falls in property values were in the western suburbs.
And high-end real estate agent Billy Bridges - who deals in properties worth tens of millions of dollars - said the very top of the market was still faring well.
"Our market's incredible. I've got 20 buyers with well over $20 million looking for waterfront. The top of the market is on fire. Hopefully those poor bastards in Bankstown will get some reprieve soon," he said.
This was an incredibly painful decision for me and the leadership team, but, in the end, we concluded that we had no choice but to securely batten down the hatches as we sail into a major economic storm. Despite having sizeable cash reserves, we deemed the responsible course was to meaningfully reduce expenses, so that Zillow emerges from the other side of the recession in a very strong position, even if the recession lasts many years.[emphasis added, just in case your eyes had glazed over]
Waving Goodbye"Recently, on the front page of Section C of the Wall Street Journal, a hedge fund manager who was also closing up shop (a $300 million fund), was quoted as saying, “What I have learned about the hedge fund business is that I hate it.” I could not agree more with that statement. I was in this game for the money. The low hanging fruit, i.e. idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale, and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking. These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government. All of this behavior supporting the Aristocracy, only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America."Nothing to add to that, I suppose.
Bamma Bama O'Wamma
Weicker Liker in the desert sandsJohn Wright, president of Arizona Education Association, said the proposition would stifle governments’ ability to discuss potential tax changes.Got to love those teachers - not content with looting property taxes and the general state coffers, they fume against any attempt to block still another source of revenue to pay for further pay raises.
"It is an abuse of the Constitution; that’s what the Constitution is there for," Wright said. "It protects our right as citizens to discuss these issues."
So who's going to buy our mansions now?
24 Upland Road, $2.325 Million
Oct. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Brooklyn home prices tumbled 5.6 percent in the third quarter as Wall Street job losses reduced demand for real estate in the New York borough across the East River from lower Manhattan.
The median sale price for a home in Brooklyn fell to $510,000 from $540,000 a year earlier, according to a report issued today by New York-based real estate appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and broker Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate. The number of sales tumbled 38 percent to 2,298.
Unemployment and tighter credit standards are cutting demand for real estate in New York City, said Paul Purcell, a partner in real estate consulting firm Braddock & Purcell. New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson yesterday raised his forecast for job losses in the city's financial service industry to about 35,000 over the next two years, up from his earlier estimate of 25,000, as the U.S. economy worsens.
``It's getting tougher and tougher to get a mortgage in New York, even if you still have your Wall Street job,'' Purcell said in an interview. ``Most lenders have stopped counting bonuses as income, and for Wall Street workers, that's the bulk of their paycheck.''
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that's what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. 'Since you are all such good customers, he said, 'I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. Drinks for the ten now cost just $80. The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?' They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.!
And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. 'I only got a dollar out of the $20,'declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,' but he got $10!' 'Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man. 'I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!' 'That's true!!' shouted the seventh man. 'Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!' 'Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison. 'We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!' The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill! And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics, University of Georgia
2 Meadow - Deer Park
Why buy the cow ..."People who were already able to afford health care began to stop paying for it so they could get it for free," said Dr. Kenny Fink, the administrator for Med-QUEST at the Department of Human Services. "I don't believe that was the intent of the program."Geeze, ya think? Fortunately, when the Blessed one takes his rightful place in Washington this winter, the free manna health care plan he enacts will have no such difficulties. Because it, like Him, will be perfect.
"He was a plant by the Republicans, and since Senator McCain introduced him to us and he is a freak we are not going to let him get off that easily."Now how on earth can Claudette and her fellow DemmerKrat friends even get up in the morning, knowing that Bush and Cheney are so hard at work setting up the downfall of poor Obama. Imagine the complexity of this snare: first they find an actor to play "Joe the Plumber". Then they set him up in what looks to be his own yard but is in fact a sound stage rented for the day by the Republicans because they know, they just know, that Obama's gonna come down that street and stop by to see Joe. And here's an even more nefarious part of the scheme: every single person on that street, every house, was occupied by a Republican operative. Obama was doomed to fall into the trap no matter where he stopped, no matter whom he spoke with!!!
126 Cat Rock Rd.
Greetings from Vancouver 
Solar powered tipis? Cool! I'll take that one!"Buyers have energy efficiency on their minds, but they still like their big houses and multiple cars, too.And here's an article whose headline claims More Buyers Looking for Green Houses but the body says otherwise:
If you want to know the direction of your customers’ homebuying preferences, think big cars and big screens.
Almost 60 percent of home buyers are prepared to spend more for a house with an oversized garage, and almost 40 percent would do the same to get a house that’s ready for cable or satellite TV, NAR research shows.
Both of these figures are up substantially from 2004, when NAR conducted similar research. In that year, buyers were willing to spend a premium in only 6 percent of cases for a big garage and in less than 30 percent of cases for enhanced TV readiness.
With their rise, oversized garages now rank second among the most desired features buyers want, up from fifth place three years ago. TV readiness has also edged up.
" NAR has begun a new program to certify agents as green agents. They will be able to understand what makes a property green, explain to clients the benefits of green building features and practices, distinguish between industry rating and classification systems, list and market green homes and buildings, discuss the financial grants and incentives available to homeowners, and guide buyers in purchasing resource-efficient homes, said Michelle Wardlaw, spokeswoman for NAR....
Despite the trend, in this housing market, buyers may not consider energy-efficiency as a goal in home buying ,[emphasis added]. They will look for energy-efficient homes if their ultimate goal is realizing cost savings after they buy. Many people are interested in that, but they have many choices available to them.
In the Phoenix area, one homeowner reported that the low-E windows and high-efficient air conditioning and heat have not attracted buyers. While some buyers were impressed with the amount of work put into making the house energy efficient, they ultimately bought elsewhere, commenting on the age of the kitchen, he said. In fact, he told buyers how low his electric bill was in the summer, but it made no difference to the potential buyers.
Other areas of the country are more proactive for looking for the green homes. Wardlaw said NAR created the Green Designation Subject Matter Expert Panel. Agents on the panel come from Portland, Ore.; Berkeley, Calif.; Winston-Salem, N.C.; and Sarasota, Fla. However, Wardlaw couldn't estimate how many requests for green homes agents receive on average per month".
Signs that an enfeebled U.S. economy is using less and less oil sent world crude prices below $70 a barrel for the first time in 14 months, a dramatic turnaround for a market that not long ago had some analysts predicting $200-a-barrel oil as early as next year.When a befuddled and furious Hugo Chavez demanded of his own budget planners an explanation as to why he could no longer afford to buy Russian bombers, that group is reported to have chorused "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!" I hope so, anyway.
The marquee supporting the GOP ticket in "an area that is strongly African American was like putting a stink bomb in the middle of the living room," said University of Maryland political Professor Ron Walters.Oh, we're in for a lovely time.
19 Farley Street 
230 Bedford Road 
29 Irvine, OG 
"The Pending Home Sales Index representing contracts signed in August increased 7.4% from an upward revision in July and is 8.8% higher than August 2007."That would certainly be encouraging, if it were accurate, and I'm confident that her paper will receive no complaints from its real estate advertisers about her column. And that, according to the paper's editor and publisher, is precisely the point.
Bye, Bye!
London Bridge (to NYC) is falling down This Britisher looks at the falling pound and Euro, examines this years sales of expensive New York condos to Europeans and concludes that the New York real estate business is about to fall on hard times . Perhaps he's hysterical [a newspaper reporter? You're kidding,right? Ed.] but bad news for that market is bad news for ours. Who do you think is, after selling their city co-ops, plunking the cash down here?
Curmudgeon! From the comments section, this gloomy assessment from Ib'er, or retired investment banker:Chris, I would agree that pricing will not go to zero.If you'll provide your address, IB'er, I'm sure the Greenwich Board of Realtors would be glad to send you a copy of "Everything's Coming up Roses", just to cheer you up. I've worn out my own copy and it didn't do me a damn bit of good.
I am beginning, however, to believe that the real estate correction is going to be much more severe than anyone is currently prepared for. Most prognosticators offered their peak to trough pricing views assuming a not severe recession or significant rising unemployment. I believe we are headed for a severe recession with much higher unemployment.
How far this will drive down prices I cannot guess. Nevertheless, the aforementioned factors added to the destruction of wealth in the stock market and lenders returning to prudent lending standards are/will be massive headwinds for future real estate pricing.
Retired IB'er
In the 
Perhaps the partisan politics we are dealing with now is really just a struggle between those of us who believe in productivity, personal responsibility, and keeping government interference to a minimum, and those who believe in the socialistic policies of taking from others, using the government as a watchdog, and rewarding those who overspend, underwork, or are just plain unproductive.
Obama talks about taking from those who are productive and redistributing to those who are not — or who are not as successful. If success and productivity is to be punished, why bother? Perhaps it is time for those of us who make the money and pay the taxes to take it easy, live on less, and let the looters of the world find their own way.
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