Archive for April, 2008
I know it’s not Whimsical Wednesday, but I can’t wait until next week. A big thank you goes out to Athol Kay in Connecticut for collecting bad MLS photos and displaying the 24 worst on his blog.
You have to see these. I know we all see a lot of them, but I don’t often see them all in one place - and Athol has attached some delightful captions to them, too.
I vote for #1 as a truly bad example of an MLS photo. And, #247 should not be viewed by any home stagers who don’t have a defibrillator handy.
If you remember Get Smart (yes the television show), you’ll appreciate #339.
And, I could go on. . . but I won’t. . . Spring has sprung, at least down here in the Saowth. . . have a great weekend, and do
Whimsical Wednesday: This Year’s April Fools
· CommentsIn case you hadn’t heard, several oil companies met with members of Congress yesterday to discuss their record profits. What a great thing for oil execs to be doing on April Fool’s Day!
Let me apologize in advance to anyone who is or has a friend or relative who is an oil executive. But, if there is a logical explanation for oil company profits, I’d like to hear it. The reports from yesterday’s meeting just aren’t doing it for me.
Exxon Mobil had a profit of 40.6 billion last year. Together, the five largest oil companies made $123 billion last year. That’s not revenue. That’s profit. And, how do the oil companies justify their profitablility? Several ways, for example:
- They need the money during this “up cycle” to sustain investments in down cycles.
- They pay a lot of taxes.
- They need money to “continue safeguarding US energy security”, and I don’t even know what that means.
The explanation I liked the most, though, was this one – the oil companies said that rising prices were mainly caused by things outside of their control. I wonder how that works.
Let’s say I was selling pancakes, and that the eggs, flour and other ingredients cost me $100. I could sell the pancakes for $200 and make a $100 profit, or I could sell them for $400 and make a $300 profit. What part of the price of pancakes is out of my control? I don’t know. If I think about it long enough, I’m afraid my brain will explode.
So, I’ll just sit here and think about our undoubtedly under-funded educational system that produces people like one young woman I read about recently. She was lamenting that she would like to upgrade her gas, but with prices the way they are, she can only afford the ’87 variety. She’d like to upgrade to the ’89 or ’92 to get a more recent product, but can’t justify the expense.
Do you suppose she learned about the different vintages of gasoline in a home ec course? Or, was that wine?
Looking for Market Information?
· CommentsI was cruising through Realty Times today and found an article about spotting markets for real estate investors. The article identifies markets that have been projected to have the least likelihood of home price declines. As a matter of fact, Texas has more of those cities than any other state.
And, the article identifies markets with the most likelihood of home price declines. It was no surprise to find California at the top of a list of four states that have the most markets likely to keep declining.
Free Global Statistics
The basis for the conclusions in the article came from a report the author referred to as the “PMI Group’s quarterly risk list”. I was a bit curious about that, so, naturally, I Googled it.
If you’re looking for a high-level view of the market, you might find the PMI site to be a good resource. The PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. is one of the largest private mortgage insurers in the United States. They are based in California and have a nationwide network for field sales and underwriting.
If you’re interested in reviewing that “risk list” report yourself, you can find it on the PMI site. The formal name of the report is the Economic and Real Estate Trends (ERET). The most recent appendix to that report is available as a PDF online, as is the full report and archived reports.
