"Karel Kriz" <karel@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:karel-2BDFE1.07530810042008@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> In article <66624jF2huimiU1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
> Stan R <aus086@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>> So how are the US-based correspondents coping with this?
>>
>> Both Charlie Cross and George Zimek live in California, which seems to
>> have been not only on the forefront of the green madness, but also
>> leading the pack on the residential property bubble.
>>
>> With $1 trillion of losses now becoming the "accepted" wisdom and with
>> literally tens of millions of Americans looking down the barrel of
>> negative home equity and the "jingle mail" option looking more
>> attractive by the day, how have you guys been affected?
>>
>> To be honest, Australia has had even more of a property bubble than the
>> US and the blow up is only just beginning here - like in the UK & NZ
and
>> elsewhere. This will be exacerbated by the recent election of a totally
>> inept Labor government (in Aus.) and I have no doubt many Australians
>> will be in for a rude shock when they discover property in fact does
not
>> always go up in value, nor are their jobs guaranteed to last forever.
>>
>> It will certainly be interesting to see how it all develops, given that
>> "jingle mail" is not an option for Australians (the banks do have
>> recourse to your other assets if your home auction does not cover the
>> debt).
>>
>> The word "depression" seems to be gaining traction, however. If/when
the
>> $145 trillion credit derivative sector blows up, then it's all over and
>> anything is possible.
>>
>> Stress levels at work over the last three or so months do make me look
>> wistfully at islands for sale in Tonga/Vanuatu, with no power, no
>> Internet and no phones, so as to get away from it all...
>>
>> Your comments would be welcome.
>
> Personally, the current depression/recession has not affected us. This
> is not so much by design, but by luck. We bought our house in 98 for
> $217,000. In January 2007 I could have sold it for about $620,000. Now,
> if I got $450, I'd consider myself lucky. So some of the equity that
> built up, is gone, but that's money we never had so we don't miss it.
> But in the height of the borrowing frenzy we nearly jumped on the
> bandwagon and made some half hearted moves to speculate in real estate.
> In those days, up to early last year, anyone with detectable signs of
> life could get a home loan. But, for various reasons, we didn't get into
> it and now we are actually thankful we didn't. One of the homes we
> almost bought, burned to the ground in last year fires.
>
> Our neighbor is a realtor and she has some horror stories of
> bankruptcies, foreclosures and suicides. It appears that Riverside and
> San Bernardino counties are most affected. I have a home builder client
> in Riverside County who stopped all work on new homes and reduced his
> staff to maybe 10 people from about a hundred. In Las Vegas, 50% of
> homes that are for sale, are empty - bought by speculators.
>
> I have no illusions. This will not turn overnight. So we hunker down,
> spend less and make no extravagant moves. The boat I was going to buy
> last year, will not happen. We've raised our fees a bit, gently, not to
> start losing clients. Personally, we'll be OK. The super rich in New****t
> Beach are not touched by this. Most of middle class will be OK. The
> people who will bear the brunt are the lower middle class who
> overextended themselves.
>
> The idea of an isolated island sound pretty good.
>
> K
Don't say Charliku that you stopped your carbon contributions to your God?
|
