olyclimber

sweet. shit storm, big stupid losers, smart winners. this is what makes america great. the flow of money from the stupid and unlucky to the smart and timely.

I was thinking the same thing Recycled. one particular guy i know is a millionaire several times over, lives in an amazing view home that is severely dated, but doesn't upgrade or fix it up because he will just then have to pay more taxes. he drives a VW Vanagon and an old diesel Mercedes, and was able to live as you're describing you want to...including taking trips like 3-4 months floating the Yukon. i do think there are number of people that end up in the millionaire bracket as a result of their retirement nest egg + their home equity from a home they paid little for back in the 70s.

This article comically defines rich people as "those with assets over a million dollars". who doesn't have that sort of coin in their change jar? There needs to be a new definition of rich. The people who bought the 3/4 million dollar home next door just seem like average people to me. http://www.cnbc.com/id/23824209/for/cnbc/

Happy Birthday! sickie

bump. Crackers, you going to summer OR? See you there? No punches to the face for me...

yeah, i wasn't sure. they are definitely throwing up condos and townhomes like it is going out of style. now they are starting in with "high rises" in west seattle, so the population over here seems to be almost doubling in density.

i just got my property tax notice in the mail, they are taxing me a full $100,000 more than I paid for the house based on the TAX ASSESSED VALUE. When I bought the house that number was $30,000 LESS than what I paid for the house (market value). Thats a $130,000 increase in 6 years! It will be interesting to see what happens with the relationship between those two values as the market changes. As I understand it you can contest the assessed value, perhaps I should do that based on the real estate market value struggles

why buy when you can help pay someone else's mortgage! seriously though, i didn't actually buy my place as an investment...it was just marginally less to rent than monthly payment on the target value of the home i bought. i bought the place to live in and had a nice surprise. i think the rent vs. own argument is easy to make in a sound, rational environment/market, but its obvious that it isn't so in a market driven by irrational lending practices and foolish people that participate in them. and of course, there were those not-so-foolish that made a killing flipping houses and using ARMs to keep their options open. even with the downturn they would be losing only on a couple deals if they're paying attention. I wouldn't confuse "normal market conditions" with what has happened in the real estate market in the past 10 or so years. truth is i'm pretty sure you would be even happier with yourself Jay if you HAD invested in the Seattle market and then rented and farmed out the management while you're on the east coast. a smart guy such as yourself could have found a gem in the market that would rent for your payment in 2002 (well, perhaps after 1 year or so), though perhaps not in that nieghborhood you are dreaming of (though we did look at a STEAL up on Phinney when we were looking, but it need to much work for a family with a new baby). perhaps your cash on hand situation didn't suit the timing, but that is another thing. i'd be interested to hear your analysis of what happens to the rental market during a time such as this. it seems like there would be more people looking to rent and less rentals available. but then, with the end of the real estate market problems perhaps not in sight, is it really time to buy? so you pay more and more to rent? of course, i'm sure you found a grandma to rent you a house for $400.

the rules in Iraq (and Cuba) are different. since we won the war there in Iraq we can prop up whatever rules we want. installing peace in the middle east is tough work, and you need contractor grade tools to get the job done right.

HELLO THERE!

Chuck people who live in Iraq gave up their rights when they moved there. That was their choice. If they want guns they can move to America.

more puppy

here is a puppy

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There is a currently a quiet but deadly emo uprising going on down in Mexico in case you haven't noticed. In the news here in the US it is becoming clear that emo is responsible for most of what is wrong with our kids.

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Patagonia beat Arcteryx!!!?? Must have been a three pointer at the buzzer!

well Jay, while you were a wall flower in that time frame some of us bought houses and did pretty well. when i bought my house i thought it was overpriced, but was a bargain given the market. now i'm astounded with what my house is "valued" at. heck, even the property+building taxes have far exceeded the value that we paid for the house. but fortunately for you i don't frequent these East coast social dinner circles you mention, or else you'd have to hear me go on and on about my squalid little hovel whilst sipping the chardonnay and eating all the mini-hotdogs. I actually DO feel like I'm glad I bought when I did, or else I WOULD feel priced out of the Seattle housing market. Its going to have to correct quite a bit more actually before it is back to a level where I think a home is a relative value as compared to what I paid way back in 2002 (or was it 03, I can't remember now).

Hey Jay, someone bought that house next door and moved in!

Indeed...well then it was only Firefox that could deal with that issue. Thanks for letting us know...I didn't notice it right off as Firefox is my primary browser.

Integral Designs sent Cascadclimbers.com a new bivy sack they just started producing called the Penguin Reflexion. We take an initial look at it here in the first entry of the CascadeClimbers.com Gear Showcase. Integral Designs was nice enough to donate the bivy sack they sent us to Seattle Mountain Rescue! Hopefully you won't be trying out that particular sack , but in the Seattle area your local Integral Designs dealer is Pro Mountain Sports and you can order one there if you are interested. Thanks to Evan at ID for donating the bivy to a cause near and dear to all Cascadeclimbers! http://cascadeclimbers.com/showcase/reflexion