How are you weathering the storm so far?
March 11, 2008
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A time capsule of the greatest financial mania in the history of mankind, told in real-time by regular folks and patriots. May future generations better understand the madness of crowds, and how power and money corrupt.
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39 comments:
So far so good. We sold the overpriced real estate a year ago and our retirement accounts are sitting on the sidelines. Just waiting it out with loads of cash.
not bad. partially due to HP advice, I sold my REIT in Feb '07 (top of the market), moved my company retirement account into govt fixed income, and bought SKF and SRS last Dec .
Macaca
....oh , forgot. GLD in the 600s, currently up 45%.
don't be hatin' a bubble playa!
BEUHLER? BEUHLER? DOPES!?? DOPES!??
Macaca
We are making out good. Got about a 20% raise at the first of the year. We own (paying the bank) on two houses that we made sure that we could afford. One is rented out and we will retire there in 7 years and the other well it too might become a rental if it wont sell when that time comes. Good secure job and living well below our means. No CC bill and both cars paid off. Invest in our retirement plans at work and IRA, so yes we watch every penny, but those pennies are being invested or saved ( which is scary right now) I always ask around with other people and I get the feeling that things are a bit tighter with them. Good luck all its going to be quite the show.
All is good here in Oregon, life is good, but I repeat do not come here it rains 13 months a year, there are no jobs and the libs run everything. Oh I gotta run a new mircobrew is out at the pub. I hear Arizona is nice and prices there always go up.
I hope the slow down hits where I'm at, trying to pick up some construction tools on the cheap, I have been checking craigslist and not much out there of quality tools. I'm in Virginia beach/Norfolk area and there are still building.
I rhode right through this stupid madness. Did not re finance and my car is paid for. I have NO credit cards and hate them. My job is steady and life is worry free and good.
I bought a house in another town, far away from the bubble. My mortgage is 1000 per month + 350 per month in taxes.
I bought 5 acres, 3K sq feet, brand new house in the mountains within 30 minutes of the state capital.
I know everyone in LA, DC, SF, ect thinks that there are no jobs beyond their glamour city. Whatever. I am done with the traffic, the skyrocketing costs, the illegals everywhere, the ultra restrictive laws, and the people who really don't care about anything but money and status.
I could care less about ever seeing another human being again. In fact, I would prefer it if I didn't.
Let the apocolypse come - maybe it will thin this herd of human maggots that has become America.
We haven't seen anything yet. The housing crisis is a drop in the bucket compared to what we face. The next great bubble is already forming - that is oil. This new bubble will not pop since global demand is streched to the limit.
Prices will never go down.
They aren't making anymore of it.
Expect $5 per gallon gas by June and $7 per gallon next year. Say goodby to civilization as you now it.
Pretty good so far. I took my ounce of prevention in the fall of 06 just when the cliff diving began. It was difficult, but now realize it was the best thing I ever did. I now rent, work for Uncle Sugar, I pay off my CCs each month capturing all the incentives as a true bonus/reward, I own my car free and clear, have no other debts & just trying to figure out what to do with the remnants of my home sale "equity".
So far so good...I did my homework and my house hasn't started to tank yet. I just wish I had more cash on hand to profit from the falling dollar, etc.
"I could care less about ever seeing another human being again. In fact, I would prefer it if I didn't.
Let the apocolypse [sic] come - maybe it will thin this herd of human maggots that has become America."
Wow. Don't you think you're getting a little too red in the face about everything? I don't know how to break this to you: high school was hard on lot of people, but most of us got over it.
>> Let the apocolypse come - maybe it will thin this herd of human maggots that has become America.
Sorry to burst your personal bubble, but you're a maggot like the rest of us.
Lets see..
I sold my home in NJ and moved to NC, the realtor was hot to sell us here in RDU but we are renting right now. We did a couple of low ball bids but no deals. We are bidding at 2002 prices which were pretty high here looking back at the tax records. ( BTW, prices are dropping here, I have been watching the market here for about 18 months )
Advisors said to put money in stocks from the sale of the house but I kept it in cash to move quickly.
Stocks are down but mostly long term so not really worried allot but also have some gold and silver so hedged there. Since most of the money is in cash from the house we are better off then if i listened to the experts!
I have a few weapons ,but that has been a while so what can i say. I am a right wing gun loving vet. Getting extra ammo for riots if Obama is nominated. ( Sorry to your Obama support types but you gotta admit it is going to happen when McCain wins )
Keep up the good work , I enjoy the freedom of we all share regardless if we agree or not. But the one thing is we better prepare!!
Good Luck to all of you!!
Still in the Mortgage biz, but for how long is the question....
The good news is, I did listen to the blogs 2 years ago, so got super lean- Paid off the car, all debt, put a good cash cushion in the bank, and leased a townhouse instead of buying a SFH.
We can hunker down here as long as we need to, moved closer to the city, so gas is also costing us a lot less. We wanted that house in the burbs, but now, with all the economic turmoil, we will sit tight, watch things unfold, and go from there.
GEEEZE...If oil prices keep going the way they are, we could really end up changing our plans!!
These are some crazy times and about to get a whole lot crazier!!
To Macaca. 11:12 am
I also bought SRS and SKF Proshares, but today thanks to Ben it's down $12 and $15, and market 270 point up. It's so sad.
I own a lot gold and silver (move all my money into it).
Sold my RE properties in NY, NJ, FL in 2005-2006. Now rent and cooking pop corn for the unfolding
Great Credit Collapse of 2008.
Spent the last week of February in Kauai. Wow, that place is truly paradise!
Warm weather – perfect temperature there, lovely scenery, nice beaches, pleasant people…one could easily get the notion to just chuck everything and move to Kauai to live.
Yes, it is that nice in Kauai. NOBODY could find fault with that place.
Oh wait, never mind. Frank would manage to find a lot of things to complain about there.
.
Momma always said, "Don't forget your rubbers"!
She was right in so many ways!
.
Now, re: the Question of the Day…
Thanks HP – when my tenants moved out last August I sold the rental house and paid off my residence. In January I snapped up the vacant 2½ acres (with a barn) adjacent to my property, so now I have 5 acres total.
The asking price had started out at $232K, then it dropped to $199K, then $179K. A few months after the listing was dropped and the sign came down, I made an offer to the owners, and we settled on $154K.
All the arguments seem to be against buying right now – prices are falling, depression coming on, etc…, but it made sense to us for a number of reasons:
- Investment? Nah, although maybe it will be worth significantly more in 15 years or so.
- Keep this piece of land undeveloped? Yep, if and when it gets a house or whatever built on it, this will be ON OUR OWN TERMS. Right now it’s kinda nice to look out back and just see the green pasture and barn out there.
The plan is to rent out the barn stalls for horses in order to bring in a few hundred $ per month. Meanwhile, my fruit trees and garden are doing well, and with today’s food prices it is good if you can produce some of your own, not to mention the good quality of home-grown produce vs. the chemical-laden stuff that is grown in depleted soils, picked by exploited illegal immigrants, then sold in the grocery stores.
Also bought some Gold with the proceeds from the house sale – thanks again HP!
So, all in all not doing too bad here on the west side of Puget Sound, although the spike in energy prices is indeed worrisome as it affects us all to some degree.
-Mammoth
Being as I'm intelligent with my finances, I don't see a storm. :)
I'm enjoying myself in South America. The devaluation of the dollar has really affected expats more than anything. I've been gone for 5 months now, and hopefully I find a job out here so I don't have to go back to the southern california bubble that I call "home".
Mammoth said...
Spent the last week of February in Kauai. Wow, that place is truly paradise!
Warm weather – perfect temperature there, lovely scenery, nice beaches, pleasant people…one could easily get the notion to just chuck everything and move to Kauai to live.
Yes, it is that nice in Kauai. NOBODY could find fault with that place.
And the price of a house, a gallon of gas, property taxes, imported foods, is?
I must not be the only one who noticed this but during Bernake's speech his fly was open and he was completely exposed.
Spent the last week in Maui.
Have about $550,000 in 401k. Another $375,000 in tax deferred annuities. Both houses bought and paid for, thank you very much due to ten year financing. Have one Beamer and one Mercedes 500 E class. Have nice secure government job making about $130,000. Read HP religiously everyday and I am also known for being a terrible liar.
I sold my 3500 Sq ft home in Phoenix, and now rent a home across the street. As a homedebtor I paid $2500 mortgage pluse tax and ins and hoa.
Now I pay $1050 (all included) for a home 300 sq ft smaller.
Now I don't pay to landscape and fix the AC when it breaks.
The home I sold is down 150k since I sold it.
Thank you HP!
Allen Green
To the guy who lives west side Puget Sound, bought 2 1/2 acres. A well meant suggestion.If things totally tank, it may take until past our lifetimes to settle down..Why don't you plant that 2+ acres with fruit and nut trees and berry bushes. You will be healthy and you definitely would have something to trade or sell if life got very bad (fall of civilizations scenario). Dwarf trees produce soon, die sooner, so plant a big square with dwarf at corners, standard (can live up to 100 years) in the center. Get some chickens, pot bellied pig or a goat to forage dropped fruit around wire protected trees until trees are several years old: chickens first, other's later.
Just a thought. Read Permaculture.
Grandma PKK
Much of this commentary is based on being left with some version of the life we've lived. That could be a very wrong assumption..What about our great grandchildren...what if they would like to eat? They would bless our name of we thought of someone besides our own immediate lives.
At least you guys are keeping your lies somehwat reasonable. There are billionaires posting on the marketwatch discussion boards.
We are doing OK. Thanks to HP, we didn't refinance to put a much wanted addition on our 1,100 sf Cape Cod. Instead, we are continuing to save and keep our credit cards paid off.
We have enough principal paid off on our home loan that we won't wind upside down, even if the market tanks 30% around here (bought in 2003).
We also just purchased a Slomin's security system in case things get a little ugly around here. I doubt it will be necessary, but better safe than sorry.
to anon at 2:02pm....
i'm not too worried that uncle ben caused my SRS and SKF to crash today cause i'm not planning to sell until dec-jan timeframe in order to pay 15% cap gains. i'm no economist, but i tend to believe eric janzen (itulip.com), Roubini, and others that the downward pressure is too strong and all the Fed's actions will come to naught, or at least pump up my other GLD position due to the inflation they are causing.
good luck,
Macaca
I'm struggling a bit. Have a decent job, but life just seems onr step ahead of us. Trying to consume less and find meaning to it all. I'm just glad I love my wife and enjoy a measure of peace. I've read HP since 10/07 and have learned a lot.
I feel pretty secure, but very scared about where things are headed. Am in the process of refinancing a commercial property I purchased four years ago for $750,000 (appraised at 1.2 mil) raw land. Built a commercial building (cost 1.3) which Goodyear leases from me for $19,000 a month, triple net. (They pay for everything - taxes, insurance, etc) I'm in it total of 2.2 mil and found a credit union here (Hawaii) to refi @5.5% 30 year amo - 10 year fixed. I get 12% bumps every 5 years. I'm already generating positive cash flow but after the refi will have a few thousand more in my pocket every month. I really can't believe I found someone with such a great rate on a commercial loan and consider it a blessing. As far as my house goes, I own two homes on one lot which was purchased twenty five years ago. Have always rented out one home and lived in the other. Been generating positive cashflow for many years now, but it has been a sacrifice as I have had to give up some amount of privacy but that's okay.
It's funny, but four years ago, in Hawaii, people were so wrapped up in residential that commercial property was cheap, for Hawaii standards. People were paying a million dollars for junk when I purchased my commercial property for a deal. It is very hard to find commercial property here on a main highway, as land is sooo limited and very expensive.
Anyways, that is my situation, and I just pray I can weather the storm that is on the horizon. I feel pretty secure, but you never know, anything could happen. My husband and I have been calling this bubble for years now, but I have to say, it sure did drag out due to the Fed's idiocy. What a farce.
Aloha :)
I just heard I will lose my job overseas and my contract won't be renewed. Fortunately I've been saving and can weather the storm. Now need to see what to do next. Good luck everybody...
-BC
Ran my net worth from $25,000 in 2005 up to $1.3M today using put options on lenders and home builders.
Money get back, I'm alright Jack
Keep your hands off my stack
New car, caviar, four star daydream
Think I'll by me a football team
I like my lies to be believable.
Groupthink is getting worse every day. Tried to rub some salve on it, but I'm afraid that the boil's going to burst.
BTW, we don't need no education, we don't need to thought control. Teacher, leave them kids alone!
Just your Average Billionaire
I live in Canada where we have sane lending standards and a reasonably sane property market.
Own a bar in socal. Feb was the best month ever by far. More bad news is good news.
'Let the apocolypse come - maybe it will thin this herd of human maggots that has become America.'
I hear ya brother. What is needed is a low IQ plague.
No change here. All is well except the inflation. Only debt is a 500/mo house payment.
"Ran my net worth from $25,000 in 2005 up to $1.3M today using put options on lenders and home builders."
bullshit
Living hand to mouth, but a little cash saved and no debt. Kind of hoping for $5 gas soon, to give me open roads when I go travelling. It sounds goofy, but when the gas it really high, the campgrounds and parks are cheap and empty.
Makes for low cost vacations...pretty weird, don't you think?! Don't tell me it ain't so, been doing it that way for years. By the way, pretty much just Europeans in the campgrounds, these days. They are pretty nice to get along with, and respect the quiet.
Take Lynn and Larry's advice:
Go small, go cheap, go NOW!
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