Success Warrior: Alan B. Rowley II - Beachbody.com, P90X, Voluntaryism, Voluntarism

Cats or a Meth Lab

On a lark, Tia and I went to see a house about a block away that's up for sale.  It's on its way to foreclosure and we heard that the previous owners were less than kind to the house.  There would be some fixing up to do but we would probably be able to get a good price should we decide to buy it.

The realtor started up the stairs outside to the front door then stopped.  She tried to sugar coat the damage that had been done but still prepare us for the fact that the owners were the kind of people that had pets and didn't care where the pets went to the bathroom.  In the house, outside, whatever. 

"We've heard," I said.

Well, "we've heard" just doesn't prepare you for the reality.  Not because of the shape of the house.  12 years in law enforcement, I've walked into similar houses (and worse - I even had the health department condemn one).

The difference being, those weren't up for sale.

It didn't help that it was in the 90s, all the windows were closed, and there was no electricity.  The baking cat urine smell attacked us as we came in.  The realtor said that most people just turn around at that point and walk back out.  Not us, we ventured in.

Back to my point.  This house is for sale.  All the carpet is going to have to be chucked.  The bank should hire someone to do that right now and then do some other things to at least tone down the meth lab smell of the place.  They're asking for $200k and they are never going to get it.  No one has even made an offer on the house, not even for half the price. 

Tia and I talked about it and decided that it would be way too risky.  Houses that have had meth labs in them can't be cleaned.  The chemicals seep into the drywall and become a permanent part of the house causing health problems for the poor family that didn't know about the lab.  We didn't know if cat urine would be the same but it was so pervasive in the house that I don't know if you could ever get rid of it unless you really just gutted the house.

Might as well just build a new one.

We also believe that objects take on the energy of the people that handle them or live in them.  That is not the kind of energy that we want to invite into our lives. 

We've decided to remodel our home instead and put our life energy into the place that we enjoy living and that will be great with a few changes.

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Two homeless countries for the price of one

The senate would like to help people keep their homes in some way or help people buy up the huge oversupply of houses on the market.  Have they thought about trying Overstock.com? 

King George has told them not to even bother trying to pass the bill on to him because it would be too expensive.  He just can't go along with that kind of spending.

In completely unrelated news, direct costs of the war have exceeded $500 billion and total economic impact is over $1.3 trillion.  Unmeasured is the moral cost the war has had on our country.

The United States spends about $100 billion a year destroying houses, schools, hospitals, museums, libraries, and anything else that can be bombed.  The only safe place to be in Iraq when the bombs are bursting is next to an oil well.

Every year that we continue to annihilate Iraq, the longer it will take for both countries to recover.  Maybe when our economy tanks, the tanks will stop running and Iraq can begin rebuilding and Americans can look around and wonder what the hell happened.

The Subprime Fiasco Explained Very Nicely

They also explain the war in Iraq beautifully.  Check it out if you have the time.

Speaking of time, for those of you waiting for a Chronicles post or email from me, I'll get to them today and explain the delay in today's Chronicle post.

5 Sword Points for PTE Rick for sending me the clip above.  Excellent stuff.

Foreclosure: Here's Some Help

Foreclosures continue to rise and with oil prices going up and the dollar going down, the number of foreclosures will probably be higher than many "experts" believe.

Where there is a need, there is a dollar to be made.  People need to get out of their houses and don't want mortgage companies making life rough for them as they try to deal with the declining economy.

Enter YouWalkAway.com.

For about a thousand bucks, they will set you up with the legal information that you need to get out of your house and your contract.

They will even tell you how long you can live in your house without making payments and will keep track of the mortgage company's progress on the foreclosure so that you can stay there the longest amount of time possible.  You might be able to live in "your" house for 8 months without paying a dime to the mortgage company.

They will then help you get the foreclosure taken off your credit report.

Seems like quite a good deal for a grand.

Freezing ARMs

2.3 millions ARMs are scheduled to reset in 2008 making people just a little bit nervous.  The plan now is to freeze interest rates for 5 years so that they don't bump up as scheduled and of course, keep lowering the interest rate and pumping more fiat money into the economy.

The two things don't go hand in hand.  Freezing the interest rates for people is a nice thought and they are probably going to be thankful.

If King George and the Federal Reserve continue to devalue the dollar, it's going to undo the plan.  If you keep interest rates from jumping a couple percentage points but you devalue the money by the much, you're going to end up with the same result in the end.

Sure, the house payment will stay the same but they may raise the price of food and gas to such an extent that it's the equivalent of raising the house payment to unaffordable levels.  When the choice gets down between food and house payment, there are still going to be record numbers of defaults and foreclosures.

You know, I'm not even an expert on this stuff and I can see that what they're doing is not going to work.  It's all part of the bail out.  Bush came right out and said that they were doing this to protect lenders and investors.

My wife asked me to run for office so I can get some of the kickbacks for helping make rich people richer.  I told her that I would consider it.

Here's a cool theory that I have

We've been told that the housing fiasco is supposed to correct itself next year and that there won't be a recession but slow growth.

Let's say that you own a house that has depreciated by 10% from the artificial high that it once was at because of the house flipping game.

Now, let's say that the Federal Reserve pumps enough fake money into the system that money depreciates in value by 10%.  Voila, your house is now "worth" more because it takes more dollars to buy it.

How cool is that?

Don't forget to take my presidential poll.

Rent is becoming unaffordable

The housing market busted after house prices were run up to a point where they became unaffordable.  ARMs are resetting and foreclosures are going through the roof.  People leaving houses are looking for places to rent and the rent is going up and up.  In some cities it's to the point where it takes more than half a person's salary to pay it. 

People with lower paying jobs are looking to relocate to where they can afford to live but many are going to be staying in the same jobs.  This is going to bring up quite a dilemma when the gas prices go back up (whether it's in 4 weeks or in May).  People are commuting to their jobs from outer suburbia so that they can continue to be school teachers, cops, garbage collectors, and all those all other essential jobs that pay far less than the service they provide.

If gas prices (if? when) gas prices go up, it's still going to cost these people extra money in order to live where they want and keep their jobs.

As I was drifting off to sleep this afternoon for too short of a nap, I wondered what was going to happen when the people who do those jobs can no longer afford to do them.  Will there be shortages in these jobs in places like San Francisco where it's just dang expensive for a school teacher to live? 

I read a story where one teacher is sleeping on a relative's couch for now and will probably try to hook up with some room mates in order to continue to live close enough to the school where she works.  She doesn't really want to move on because she has found her place in life for now. 

Is that really where we're headed?  Putting our school teachers in dorms?

I said it would and it is

Super short post today and dang it, I can't find the link that I saw yesterday.

Rent is going up.  It makes sense of course.  People can't afford a house so they have to rent.  Supply and demand. 

Renting in and of itself is not a bad thing as long as you set yourself up in a position to pay the rent for the rest of your life. 

With tightening credit rules, it's going to be harder for people to buy a house too.  Paying higher rent will make it harder to save up a down payment.

Most of the people of this nation are being moved out of ownership roles.  The United States and it's laws were created by and for land owners and it looks like we're moving full circle.

Mind Boggling Foreclosures

Can you imagine a place where 1 out of every 27 houses is in foreclosure?  If you can imagine Stockton California, then you can imagine just such a case. 

Las Vegas has a foreclosure every 31 households.  A couple years ago, Vegas was one of the hottest markets in America.  Anyone could flip a house and make money in Vegas.  Not anymore.

It may come as no surprise that there are more foreclosures in places like Vegas and Stockton where it seemed that there was no ceiling on the price of houses and no restrictions on the amount of money people could borrow.

I checked out where Salt Lake City ranked in foreclosures per household.  #63 and they actually have fewer foreclosures in the first half of this year than they did last year.  Interesting.  The new realtor we talked to the other day said that Utah hasn't been hit as hard as a lot of other areas and it appears that he was telling the truth.  I know that I shouldn't be shocked when a realtor tells me the truth but it's a hard habit to get over.  Let me add this caveat.  Utah hasn't been hit as hard as a lot of other areas - for now.

Meeting a New Realtor

So we met another realtor last week.  My brother recommended him so we thought we sit and visit with him to see what kind of guy he is.  He lives right across the street from my brother so he just walked over.  We sat in the driveway and chatted while we watched the kids play and my brother fire up the grill.

The nice thing about talking to an actual realtor instead of someone selling lots for a contractor was that this guy would be working for us.  We told him what we were looking for and he took notes.  We told him our ideal price range and the features we were looking for. 

We talked about the market.  He said that Utah hasn't been hit as hard as some states but that it's definitely a buyer's market.  I told him that we weren't in much of a hurry because there was probably another 18 months of ARMs resets and foreclosures ahead.  He agreed.

He said that since we weren't in a hurry to move, we would be able to watch the market and watch specific houses.  The longer a house was up for sale, the better the chance of getting a better price on it would be.  I knew that but it was nice to hear that he was on the same page with us and would be watching for that sort of thing.

He's going to send listings to us that fit our criteria and we'll let him know if we want to take a walk through any of them.  It's going to be nice to be able to take our time on this.