Vaca Photos

Floriduh and the Rest of US

Head Injury is number one. Shocked. Surprised. Just kidding.

In Case Anyone Wonders Why i Put Up With California

January 23rd, 2017

A different View of California

Not the usual shape.  Political boundaries rarely respect geography.  This is a representation of the hydrological State.  And yes, before you ask, that tiny kidney bean of remaoining extreme drought is me.  In the south a bit is ceded to Arizona.  A bit is added from southern Nevada which i don't exactly understand while a bit more is given back up around Lake Tahoe.  Eastern Oregon gets pasted on up north not that there is anyone to notice. 

Assurance is not Insurance

From: Average Cost of Homeowners Insurance 
More interesting is the State by State chart at the link. 

For one i had no idea that i basically pay 1/8th what people in Florida pay.  I guess I have to update my stodgy ideas about California being always more expensive.  I'd still bet that earthquake insurance is cheaper there. 

Vancouver housing ranked 3rd most unaffordable

From the CBC.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/demographia-international-housing-study-vancouver-ranks-3rd-1.3947668


For yet another year, Vancouver has the dubious honour of being one of the most unaffordable cities for housing, according to an annual international study.
Vancouver ranks 3rd in the 2017 Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey, down one spot from 2016 when it was second.
The survey compares 406 metropolitan housing markets in nine countries: Australia, Canada, China, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States.
It's the 13th edition of the report, which links median house prices to median household incomes otherwise known as the "median multiple." 
A value 3.0 or under is deemed affordable. Vancouver's median multiple is 11.8.

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 Quite the discussion of the Chinese effect here:
http://www.businessinsider.com/regulation-changes-in-china-could-crash-vancouvers-real-estate-market-2017-2

Excerpt: 

This will impact real estate around the world, but Vancouver is a particularly popular place for Chinese buyers. Using the foreign buyer data from the B.C. Ministry of Finance, we can see 4,515 units bought between June 2016 (the first month tracked) to November 2016 (last point available). The average price of units during those periods is CA$1,012,372 (US$776,091), around 14x the median household income of a BC family.
...
Not every one of the 4,515 buyers is going to default, but that’s the tip of the iceberg. B.C. has only been tracking foreign buyers for 6 months, and Vancouver has been a popular destination for Chinese buyers for much longer.  
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 From the embedded Demographia link in the first article:

There are 11 affordable major housing markets in 2016, all in the United States. Rochester is the most affordable, with a Median Multiple of 2.5, followed by Buffalo (2.6), Cincinnati (2.7), Cleveland (2.7), Pittsburgh (2.7), Oklahoma City (2.9), St. Louis (2.9) and four at 3.0, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis and Kansas City.

 

I don't know about you but I can think of lots of reasons Rochester NY is affordable.
As to Vancouver, be sure to play: http://crackshackormansion.com/part2.html

Good to be Back

This is what I saw when getting the morning newspapers.  Pardon me if I don't post until I get back in an hour or so.

Use the comments to make suggestions for topics you'd like to discuss. 

Update:
Well that break in the "Stay Away!" weather didn't last long.  At least my short game is getting better.

 Last year the camera would have to zoom out twice as far to show this many shots. 

Americans Moving at Historically Low Rates

I love the American Community Survey (ACS). Perhaps the most deep "dive worthy" public dataset we get from the Census. Let's just look at a few highlights including the post title. http://census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2016/cb16-189.html • The percentage of Americans moving over a one-year period fell to an all time low in the United States to 11.2 percent in 2016, according to tables released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. Here is what I wrote 11 years ago:

No matter how the pain is spread, there will be consumer pain. Likewise because of govt spending policies that resemble the proverbial cricket in summer we can expect massive deficits and even larger tax increases. I hope everyone likes their neighbors because nobody is moving for a very long time. The new immobility class has moved in to stay.

Other things I said weren't perfect but this was spot on. Back to the present. Nobody cares about 11 years ago as LLiz has noted on so many occasions. Memory fades. What does this mean for now? IMO • Among those who moved, 42.2 percent said they moved for a housing-related reason, such as wanting a new or better home/apartment. In comparison, 27.4 percent said they moved for a family-related reason, 20.2 percent said they moved for an employment-related reason, and 10.2 percent said they moved for some other reason. I imagine the 42.2% moving for housing reasons are experiencing rising rents or other income/outflow issues.

For America!

Boston Patriots, New England Patriots, seat of liberty, etc. Red, white and blue. [These colors don't run?] Atlanta Falcons. Red, Black and White. We know those colors from history!