Tuesday, November 03, 2009

House Prices in Gold


Feb '06 median Ventura County home: $680k
Price of gold: $560/oz.
Median home price in gold: 1214 ounces.

Oct '09 median Ventura county home: $419k
Price of gold: $1000
Median home price in gold: 419 ounces.

Value today of the gold you bought in 2006 after selling your house: $1,214,000.

Turn one house into 3 in 3 years. Sounds like something Casey would do (in reverse).

22 comments:

Doug said...

That's pretty good, but you'd still just be a speculator (a wise one, though). Getting out at the top of one market and in at the bottom of another is pretty much the dream, isn't it?

Besides, I thought the idea pushed by gold bugs is that gold is a "store of value" and a certain amount of gold should always buy one loaf of bread, one house, etc.

Rob Dawg said...

It will be interesting to see how those 3 houses do relative to gold over the next three years.

Northern Renter said...

Sorry Dawg, but you underestimate the Snowflake. He turned 8 into zero, which is far more impressive than the 3 into 1 that you'd postulated.

Mathematically yours,

NR

EconomicDisconnect said...

Rob,
awesome Casey Serin reference! That clown is immortalized.

Unknown said...

He turned 8 into zero

... for which he should've gotten 2to 5. :-p

Ba-dum-bum!

Anyone still think he'll see the inside of a cell, or did he actually get off scot-free with a $300,000+ theft?

Son of Brock Landers said...

was there not a song called 'all the gold in california'. it's in a bank in the middle of jersey city in goldman sachs' name.

w said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
w said...

That is the question...When to sell the gold.

Any advice?

AuAgPb said...


That is the question...When to sell the gold.

Any advice?


I am going to follow the Joseph Kennedy rule. When one of my perma-Real Estate bull friends (yes, they still exist) states they have bought gold, I will sell.

Pleather Murse said...

Re: When to sell gold

It may be my day-trader habits speaking, but you sell when you think you have made a satisfactory profit. A basic trading rule is that no one ever went broke from taking small profits when they could.

Just don't take your gold to one of those "Compra Oros!" / barber shop combinations that seem to be rife in my neck of the woods.

Unknown said...

The nice thing about holding gold is that it acts as a psychological security blanket. It is a hedge for income. If the price of gold plummets then that will mean that the economy is recovering and that the dollars earned from work are worth more. If the price keeps going up we can feel smart and prescient.

Captain Nemo said...

Re: prior post.

I suspect that the Aeroscraft will be a great success at what is is designed to do. The problem is that I don't think it is designed to fly, rather, it is designed to fleece investors. This should be a huge warning flag:
"During takeoff and landing, six turbo-fan jet engines push the ship up or ease its descent."
So it is a STOL or VTOL craft? Even if it is 2/3 bouyant, this still leaves a huge weight and hence a massive power requirement to get it off the ground.

Captain Nemo said...

Zillow:

Listed on Zillow near my home is a house that Zillow eatimates at just over $750k, which sold a week ago for $840k. That's quite a difference. There isn't anything special about the house.

Lost Cause said...

Its another asset bubble. Quick, wasn't it? The banks are controlling the stock market -- threaten credit card rates, and the market drops.

Monica said...

You know, that surfing site that was paying so regularly (ad-ventures4u) got out of the surfing business but got into the business of buying gold, as well as silver, platinum, vermeil, diamonds ( 1/4 kt and larger ), broken rings, singular earrings, pendants and necklaces. It is no longer paying, but allegedly, it will start paying Pro members again, based on the number of shares they own, once the new Gold site is producing revenue. While the ad-v site still exists and functions as a traffic exchange, the Gold site is a different site, http://tradinggold4cash.com/.

Notice that I have not provided my referral link, so I'm not just looking for referrals. Moreover, I wouldn't have mentioned these developments if you weren't talking about gold.

Mr. Outspoken said...

OK, I understand that given a high unemployment rate and a mismatch between jobs and seekers, you want to do something, but come on!!! Unemployed people get 26 weeks of jobless benefits to begin with, and that just got 20 more added on (in states with high unemployment). That is almost a year of idleness at half-income. If I quit my job? Nothing. Fired with cause, flimsy though it may be? Nothing. Laid off? Jackpot! Remember part of the formula to determine an employer's SUI contribution is the balance of the states SUI fund. Another can kicked down the road.

TJandTheBear said...

This post reminded me of a commentary I read back in '05 or so. The writer made the ridiculous argument that housing wasn't in a bubble because the price of houses had stayed somewhat even relative to gold. Idiot.

Monica said...

I wouldn't call a significant reduction in one's income "jackpot". Not everybody can afford to live on half their income. Also, by being strict, and possibly unfair in some cases, the system is preventing people from arranging on purpose, either by quitting or by not trying too hard to keep their jobs, to be unemployed and on benefits from time to time.

Tyrone said...

When the DJIA is valued at 1-2 oz of gold, it's time to start thinking about selling your gold and buying shares.

Property Flopper said...

Unemployment isn't half income - it has a cap. Depends on the state, here in CA it tops out at $450 / week. If you make anything north of $46k/year, you hit the cap.

In a lot of the country, that's not a bad salary. In the SF Bay Area (where I'm at), that's subsistance living.

Definitely better than nothing, but it certainly wouldn't be a picnic.

Rocco said...

TJ, the reason that doofus made such a ridiculous argument is that like all greedy and deceitful morons, he was unable to understand or admit that all asset classes could be bid up into a condition of overpricing. Inflation rose hugely due to speculators trying to eke out unsustainable profits from anything they could get their hands on.

And they are still doing it. All restraint, ethics and sanity have long left the financial systems of the West.

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