Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Energy Conservation

I'm getting quieter and quieter these days, because I have a birthday coming up in a week. I must, therefore, spend all of my spare energy on cultivating a magnificent sense of despair. The only thing I hate worse than New Year's is my birthday. Actually, now that I've worked out to spend every New Year's in a foreign country in the company of strangers, it's not as awful as it used to be.

Which means birthday is numero uno disappointment every year. Until I forget to plan ahead for New Year's, at least.

Another thing that is taking up a lot of my time is me trying to figure out if I should buy property or not. I lucked out the first time, cluelessly stumbling into a future gold mine in my mid-twenties. I was slightly less clueless the second time but just as lucky. Third time in this case is not necessarily the charm. Where property is going isn't clear. Inventory is massive, but things have started moving. But moving enough? Not yet. Can I time the market? I wish.

I've been looking all over the map. Just to give you an idea, here's a contrast. Check out cheap and tiny versus massive and expensive.

I'll have the latter, please. For my birthday. That would shut me up.

3 comments:

robert said...

Happy Birthday, Marie.

I've enjoyed reading of your travels.

For a home, I think I prefer the first one.... I think it's pretty nice size for a single or couple (just in case)

I can't see living in the Church.
You could open a hostel in it. The price seems to be a great deal for the square footage.

Plenty of room where they pews used to be... you could wait a long time before taking out the garbage. Just ask Alice, Ray, and Fasia the dog. :)

Don said...

The church deal is like someone selling a woodlot after first selling off the good trees for toilet paper, or whatever. The wood in the pews was worth a bundle. You would be dealing with some savy folks here, so "buyer beware". The alter is a nice spot for an afternoon nap kiosk, however.
As regards the first property, an important question is could you see yourself living there 10 years from now? The next real estate peak in the US is at least 10 years away. It will take that long for memories to fade and a new crop of abusers and abusees to come along.

Marie Javins said...

Hey guys, thanks for commenting. The church would be amazing if I had some kind of performance needs. Which of course I don't. And anyway, I don't have that kind of money. It's just fantasy real estate.

The little one isn't out of the question as an investment where the rent would pay for it, but it's on a terribly busy street corner so the price would have to go down to where there would unmistakably be positive cash flow even if the economy continues to tank (barring a zombie invasion).

I might just do nothing. Real estate in outer JC has absolutely plummeted... but you know what? It's still MUCH higher than it was in 2002, which was pretty high to me compared to what I thought it should go for.

I know you can't time the market but that doesn't stop me from trying to sort it out.