BryanS

...as much as I love our current President, this is fairly innovative: The president planned to issue an executive order Tuesday ordering federal agencies to ignore earmarks that aren't explicitly enacted into law, erasing a common practice in which lawmakers' projects are outlined in nonbinding documents that accompany legislation. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/28/politics/main3761509.shtml?source=mostpop_story Since the line item veto has been ruled unconstitutional... The Executive branch cannot mark out specific items from a bill; however, it is within the Executive branch's authority to preside and manage the expenditure of funds, in the Executive... so... the pork $$$ get sent to federal agencies, but instead of burning through the money, the money sits, unspent and dare I say: "hog tied." As such, pork projects can't add to the national debt in this case... at least that is how I understand it...

For 270K, you can have a direct, across-the-street view of the church I think you're talking about... http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cfm?mlnum=7732377 (check the map on this listing - Andrews/Crosby St is where the church is.)

Hello HAIF, Looking for some information about an old lounge in Midtown called Crossroads Lounge located at 4409 South Main Street. Does anyone remember this lounge/club? This would have been on the corner of South Main St. and Richmond Ave. I vaguely remember hearing about this place back in the 1960s. I was looking for some pictures of the place. Does anyone have any postcards or photos? Did anyone else go here? Share your memories and stories! Thanks guys.

From a purely financial standpoint (the ability to continually fund your 401K vs. time off for school and what that really is going to cost you over the long haul), I agree with you 100%. However

...Finally found a good website/tool that anyone who is looking at buying a home should consult, IMO. This is not an endorsement for this site, but just the general function/data comparison it provides. Ever wonder what the median age, income level, education level, poverty level, occupation, etc was for your zip code? Even better - what about zip codes adjacent to yours? You can get a good idea of just how good (or bad) your neighborhood/zip really is, especially in relation to other near-by zips. http://www.zipskinny.com/ This web site is based off of US Census data. Last census was 2000. Obviously, a lot has changed, especially in the inner loop, with new townhomes going into places where angels feared to tread, at least by 2000 census standards. When the 2010 census comes out, it will be really interesting to see if all that development in "transitional areas" will be enough to significantly change the demographics/stats of those areas. Everyone wants retail, and these are the kind of statistics, among other factors, that will be examined by businesses when they make their decisions on exactly what type of retail - if any - goes into a particular area. Anyone have other good "dig" websites similar to this one that gives the (statistical) scoops on neighborhoods, crime, schools, and/or other factors a home buyer would find valuable (beyond realtor comps, beyond hcad, beyond chron.com)?

What would make a lotta money is a winning team. If we have no other better use for the dome, and you don't like the blight of the current "practice bubble," be kind to the earth and use a facility that really isn't used for much anymore. Only in Houston would we have a stadium-across-the-way from a stadium. Adds to our notoriety of having a Starbucks across the street from a Starbucks.

Why not use the giant "practice bubble" known as the Houston Astrodome, right next to the stadium? We need find some use for it before we convert it (or maybe not?) into a hotel.

He's screwed. It's over (for him). This thing is going to boil down to Hillary vs. McCain, I am afraid. What a shame. An Obama vs. Huckabee election would have been much more interesting, for everyone, in my view. Instead, we're going to get more of the same... I hope I'm wrong!

Regarding the fees... First - you can't write them off on your taxes, like you can the interest on your mortgage. Second - For every $100 a month you pay in maint fees, you could buy up to 15K+ more on a townhome/condo that does not have those fees (rough estimate). So... a 200K condo w/ 300/month maint fees OR ... a 245K condo/townhouse with no maint fees - for the same monthly payment, plus you get to write off the mortgage interest on your taxes. Need to look at the total picture, including your tax situation and what you could end up buying - absent those fees (or how much more you could buy into a property with lower fees.) When I look at maint fees - I always ask what it covers, especially the insurance aspect. Insurance can run you -rough estimate- $100/month on a single family/detached/fee simple (i.e. no maint fee) townhouse. That is an expense, again, that you cannot avoid, nor write off on taxes. So... if a maint fee on a condo is say $200/month - but it includes insurance (for the basic structure of the building)... and maybe the water bill... then you could argue that that the fee is worth it. Problem is... you may still need insurance for the contents/interior of your condo unit. So you may end up paying for insurance on top of what is included in the building maint fee, none of which you can take advantage at tax time. To me, owning a condo is like owning and renting at the same time, once you take into account cash that gets dumped into fees and "extra" insurance - that could otherwise be avoided. It all depends on, really, how comfortable you feel. I hate maint fees. I hate over zealous HOAs. I could care less what my neighbor's house looks like... but then again... I am that neighbor that would buy the ugly unit/townhouse/house - for the lowest cost as compared to other units - and just leave it (or improve it to my tastes, on my own terms - screw the would-be HOA, to hell with the neighbors) But that is me. If you don't like doing home repairs, don't care to do it, and don't mind paying a reasonable maint fee, then go for it. Just make sure you're not getting raped. Edits: added a couple of words I missed... The vodka and cranberry is having an effect on me.

So... should the poster buy a loft or a townhome?

Oops! Looks like the builder built a little too far into the booming East End...

Even beyond that. In Japan (at the height of their real estate bubble), back when a square foot of Japanese soil was valued at the equivalent of the entire state of CA, 100-year mortgages were not uncommon. But we can do even better: The inter-generational mortgage... You pay interest only on the mortgage for your entire life. When you die, the property - and principal payments - must be made by those who you leave your property to. At that point, whoever gets the property can sell it to finally retire the loan. What a deal! Mortgage lenders that get a never ending supply of interest payments! for decades and decades and decades... http://www.moneyweek.com/file/17935/a-mort...and-beyond.html "Last week, the Kent Reliance Building Society launched the first

...Not sure what happens to these places, but when they go up - they're nice (or some would say)... but after a couple of years... time for the bullet proof vests. The AMC Gulf Pointe 30 @ B-8/45 needs to be closed and 'dozed next. Sad to think that we'll bulldoze places like the River Oaks theater and shutdown Greenway... and then leave crap like this standing, but hopefully not for much longer....

Anything could be "possible" in this case. It's possible they were over extended on their home in SF and had no equity for a down payment. It's possible that Ms. Ummel's salary was much less than 75K (the article said that her legal bills of 75K had surpassed her salary - so she could be making even less). It's possible these people truly got themselves into a mess and were looking for an easy way out. My main point is that we haven't been very smart consumers. And looking at your NYT link... these people were truly idiots: "Mr. Little also worked as a mortgage broker. The Ummels say he encouraged them to get their loan through him. Mr. Little ordered an appraisal of the house but did not respond to the couple

Spend the extra money and buy a house in Idylwood... But then again maybe not (if you value closet space).

If only Ron Paul's message could be transplanted into someone who could actually win - and maybe communicate a little better. Have you seen him in the debates? He gets flustered too easily and just loses it. Don't get me wrong - I like his message (minus what was printed in his news letters in the 1980's, 90's). So we got 75 bps of rate cut today. Outstanding. This is not going to work. Not for the long term. We're OK now... but we are going to pay like there is no tomorrow when this comes home to roost and inflation eats us alive. There will be more cuts and things will seem all rosy, but we're fooling ourselves. Like legos? How about little lego animations? This simple little "cartoon" explains it all:

Even worse. How did we ever let "middle class" people buy such outrageously expensive homes? California is screwed (in fact, we may all be screwed, again, as CA takes down the whole country). What is happening/happened to the subprime buyers who bought 150K houses they could not afford is going to happen to prime buyers in states like CA when they get crushed by their 500K+ mortgages. And guess who owns all those mortgages? Countrywide, Bank of America, Citi, and all the same players who got burned with the subprime mess. Get ready for Round 2 folks. California foreclosures hit 20-year high in 4Q http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...p;feed=rss.news

Absent any sense between the ear's of this buyer - this deal should have been stopped at the loan officer's desk. Does it sound like a good idea to give someone, who makes $75,000/year, a loan on a $500,000 house? (6% on 500K=30K in commision, per the article). Under "traditional" lending rules, which have been thrown out the window over the past 5 years (and got us into all this mess), this person should not be allowed to borrow any more than 3x their salary, or $225,000 MAX. But what about her dream of home ownership, you ask? Too bad. You can't afford it. Move somewhere else or RENT in that type of market. Even on a 40-year interest only loan, the payments would still be outrageous. I can't believe that people do not realize, before they even think about buying: "...a half a million seems kinda pricey... ...I don't think I can afford this... maybe I should do something else..." Otherwise, your dream of ownership will be a nightmare - and you really have no one to blame but yourself.

I think the "cutoffs" are just rough estimates right now... whatever happens needs to be approved through Congress next month. All we really know is that the total package will be around $150B. To be "fair," I would guess (or you would think) they would phase-out the rebate (e.g. $200 for every $1000 over 80K to ensure that those who make 85K or more don't get any) in the same way they punish people who make over 100K (or is 115K this year?) per year, in terms of limiting Roth IRA contributions. Then there is the question... are they going to tie this to your gross annual or adjusted gross income, after deducting 401K, social security, medicare, taxes, etc.? In one scenario, you may get the rebate. In the other, you're screwed (none for you.)

...yes, it would, but what would make me feel even worse is knowing that I bought GOOG at $750... $600... or let's just say $500/share... and then having to remind myself that the nearest competitor was selling for only $21/share (yahoo). Yahoo peaked at about $100/share, at the height of the tech bubble and is now at 80% below its peak level. Google seems overpriced, to me, and is in a bubble of its own. Even back in 2005, GOOG at $300/share was causing concern: http://www.smartmoney.com/commonsense/inde...?story=20050607

Neither am I.... but I am now.

Watching CNBC this morning... Even though are markets were closed... the DJIA "futures" (as in tomorrow) was showing anywhere from 300 to 400 point drop... dropping the Dow into the mid 11,000 range (yikes!!!)... NASDAQ, S&P, all showing down - way down. A lot of what happened in the foreign markets today, can be traced to a post I made a couple of days ago, regarding the bond market and bond insurers - and their inability to cover loses that they are supposed to have guaranteed. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...&refer=home "The risk of European companies defaulting soared to a record on concern credit ratings cuts at bond insurers Ambac Financial Group Inc. and MBIA Inc. may trigger forced asset sales and worsen credit market turmoil." Ambac lost its AAA rating on Jan 18th... and appears to be headed down for the count... http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/20...afx4553004.html ...and here is the lawsuit... http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articl...ire/0350855.htm As a result of losing their rating, the bonds they insured can take hits on their ratings. And if you own a bond mutual fund that requires AAA bonds, and you had them before the Ambac rating downgrade, your mutual fund has to sell off those now-downgraded bonds (only "quality" bonds can be held). So if you have a massive sell off, look for prices to go down, down, down... (more supply, less demand, value/prices go down) There is $2.4 trillion of debt that is insured by bond insurers. MBIA and Ambac, the number 1 and 2 bond insurers, have seen their stock price plunge by huge amounts (hence, the shareholder lawsuits) ...MBIA is next... THE EQUIVALENT OF A MASSIVE METEOR strike hit the bond-insurer industry last week, which rendered even the leading concern, MBIA, a smoking crater. http://online.barrons.com/article/SB120071...glenews_barrons This is gonna get bad, real bad.

Mrs. Butterworth: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhMrPJV-AX8 Actually... when I was a kid, this kinda freaked me out. Sitting at the kitchen table, nervously eating pancakes, staring at her across the table, thinking: Is she going to come to life? ...and who could forget Intellivision... ...did anyone ever learn French, exercise, or do their taxes using this thing? Still waiting on the keyboard unit.

Spend money so that we can keep the economy from crashing. Sounds nuts to me. Spending too much is what got us into trouble in the first place. From maxing out credit cards, home equity lines, buying homes we could not afford, obtaining loans we would normally not qualify for (subprime), exotic mortgages - you name it. The average American now carries almost $10,000 in credit card debt. The message our government should be sending us is: SAVE. Save like there is no tomorrow. Pay down bills, reduce debt, put more into your 401K/Roth, build up an emergency fund - your job is at risk, etc, etc. We need to get ready for a rough road ahead - and get it over with - and without any government intervention (no tax rebates, no subprime bailouts, no artifical lowering of interest rates to prop up the economy, etc). We're not going to be able to keep the wheels on this thing much longer. The Fed cut rates in Sept 07... but listen why that didn't work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3N7PU9ohMI ...not to mention an open letter to President Bush, from one Republican to another: http://www.denninger.net/letters/president-financial.pdf Ever hear that AAA bonds are "safe investments?" They only get that rating because they are insured. But what happens when the bond insurer's rating is less than AAA or is at risk of begin downgraded? Uh oh. Then all those AAA bonds are now something less than AAA. The subprime mess, the stock market's downward spiral, multi-billion dollar write-offs/meltdowns by the major financial institutions, etc. is one thing. But what could possibly happen in the bond market is going to make Enron dealings, and recent economic events, look like child's play. in Nov.... http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...&refer=home ...now in Jan... http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-amba...dlines-business Equities, bonds, and real estate - are all on shaky ground and headed down, down, down. There are no safe havens - and you can't eat gold. The economic stimulus package is believed to be valued at $150 billion. The bond market loss alone could be $200B. We're screwed.

Price: 100K to 160K Rent: 1% of sale price/month Rentability: Must rent within 30 to 45 days Size: 3-2-2; 1300 to 2000 sqft Age of Property: New enough such that the property is less than 50 years old at time of future re-sale. Assuming a 30 year mortgage (that is not paid off early), that comes out to no older than a build date of 1989. Hard finding insurance for properties that are over 50 years of age (without a lot of extra work and hassel). Tax Rate: 2.6 to 3.0 Location: Near professional employment centers. In a good school district. I am looking to purchase rental property in the Clear Lake area. I found the house (per my guidelines above). But I have called four insurance companies - NONE of them are writing dwelling fire insurance on investment properties in Harris county. Any recommendations? I have looked at your listings, the insurance seems really low. How did you pull that off?