Welcome 2007

Wow, it's been a hectic last 4-5 weeks or so, and now that I am back at work I will hopefully be able to do some more blogging get back to a normal sort of routine.

Here goes.

Labels

OK. Being the OCD idiot that eye yam, it took me some time to sort out blogging software cos I wanted categories, and at the time, blogger didn't have anything other than some search type hack that I found on some geek's site.
Anyway, Blogger have finally got with the program and have introduced Blogger Beta, complete with categories. They also have made managing a blog a whole shitload easier.

If you are thinking about going for the upgrade (it's free of course) then just do it. It's also integrated with the best web based email system available today: "bigbrotherG" mail.

And then if you really are OCD, you can go back and edit each post to add the labels. Then, it's easier for your stalkers to read all about you. See? ->

Oh, I do hate the layout of this brog also, if you were wondering. So I will do a revamp at some point soon. I know everyone is excited about that.

Is the bubble about to burst?

Real estate is an interesting thing.

I was lucky enough to buy my first place when I was 23 - it was a shitty 100 year old villa that took me 7 years to finish. I learned a lot about DIY and property by getting involved pretty early on.
At one point, I was pretty close to the wire and sold my car, so I was biking to work each day, and sometimes buying milk or bread with money that could only come out of the coin jar. Oddly enough, I look back at those times with some pretty fond memories because those are the times when it seems that strength of character and ambition was more important than financial security. Those sorts of conditions can bring out the best (or worse) in a person.

Anyway, in NZ we have experienced a bit of a property boom since about mid 2001 - virtually to the month that we sold the house and left NZ for our 2-3 year Overseas Experience...that is now into it's 6th year. According to the stats, property rises have averaged 20% p/a for the last 4-5 years in some parts of NZ, and 80-100% increase in home values are not that uncommon. It's a similar sotry in other parts of the world, maybe the dates are different.
My view is that there is a correction coming. For the last 100 years, property has averaged more like 4-7% p/a in various parts of the world, so you have to ask yourself what impact the last 5 years of boom is going to have on the market in the next few years, if we are going to maintain that 4-7% p/a average.

Fortunately for me, I bought my first place when some people were reducing prices to sell. Indeed, Real Estate was going down. (I'm only talking the early-mid 90s here!)
These days, there is a new breed of people (or just those who have short memories) that believe 15-20% p/a increases are completely sustainable for the rest of their lives. Many people believe that this 15-20% p/a gain is something magical, "it's just the market showing it's true value" etc etc, but in the last few years, I believe that perhaps these unrealistic gains have been fueled by greed.
There are plenty of people who see 'flipping' as a realistic way to get ahead. Basically buying a place with the intention of selling it pretty quickly to the next person for a profit. Ya know, almost like MLM or Pyramid Selling.
The problem is, many of these people believe in "can't lose" mentality that they them selves are not content to cash up and enjoy the profits of their flips, rather, they extend their debt even further, making sure they are maximizing any equity they had by borrowing to the limit.
There is no belief that interest rates could possibly hike, or that the bubble will burst. Anyway, I think you get the idea.

Here is an interesting blog. It is by a 24 year old budding "investor", who didn't know any better and took what we wanted to believe from various get rich quick seminars. His name is Casey Serin, and he bought 8 houses in 8 months with no money down, and lost. http://iamfacingforeclosure.com/1/why-i-am-facing-foreclosure/

Check out out some of the comments. Wow.

Why is Real Estate so interesting? Cos is can make smart people do dumb things, and dumb people do smart things.

I don't like the name blog

...but that is the terminology. After years of thinking blogs were kinda cheesy, here I am writing in one right now.
So why do it then? Well, I enjoy writing things to share sometimes, and othertimes I just like to capture a moment or thought. Pictures help too, so the plan is to use plenty of pics.

I have thought about it for a while, and it took me a while to get going cos I was looking for some blog software that had categories....
....like these here ->
Mostly it is impossible to find categories and all that on free blogs, and I am too tight to pay $4.95 a month for the good stuff, so I found a hack on the blogger help about setting up categories. Ta Da. (Edit: This is now irrelevant as Blogger now has labels. Woo Hoo.)

I hope you like them, well I hope I do mostly.

I am also not sure about this look and feel. It's O.....K..... but it's good to fiddle with HTML now and then so don't be surprised if I change this.

Let's see how this goes. I am feeling positive. Today.