Your only problem is that demand will stay high for housing in DC. All the people (even the negroes) who come to town with a new administration will need a place to live. And with gas at $1.7 million/gallon, paying a premium to live in the city will make sense. On the other hand, some of the other stuff seems likely to happen. So there's that.
I'm hoping all of the Democrats who come to town will band together and submit lowball offers to all sellers.
Prisoner's Dilemma, people!
Okay, now you're talking. Given that all of the newcomers will be from one church (Trinity, natch), I think you might have a shot at organizing them.
But how will you ever find a suitable castle on the new, popular Unicorn Transit Line?
DC does well as government expands. Carbon regulation, health care expansions, no one will dare to cut back on the defense budget -- DC is going to boom.
I'm hoping all of the Democrats who come to town will band together and submit lowball offers to all sellers.
I take it this follows up on your successful solution to the problem of collective action in the gate areas of overbooked flights.
I thought Obama was promising everyone a castle on the Unicorn Line.
I'm holding out for the Lollipop upgrades.
Given that all of the newcomers will be from one church (Trinity, natch)
God DAMN these house prices!
Tell your neighbor housing markets can come in any color.
5 - But all of the defense contractors are married and live in the suburbs. Srsly.
Gonerill, you're so racist that you'll fit in right away on Tobacco Road. And congratulations, by the way.
DC home prices might drop if the mortgage crisis results in foreclosure of the House of Representatives.
Gonerill, you're so racist that you'll fit in right away
I don't see race; only potatoes.
I don't see race; only potatoes.
Well, then you're screwed.
DC is surprisingly expensive.
The good thing about living where housing is really absurdly expensive is that everything else looks cheap. OTOH, DC falls a little short on the tropical paradise thing.
The good thing about living where housing is really absurdly expensive is that everything else looks cheap
That's where the surprise comes from me. I've lived in the Bay Area and New York and found New York at least to have slightly cheaper (shared apartment/house sublet) rent and cheaper (non-sit-down-and-be-served-at-the-table-restaurant) food. People with higher class tastes and actual social lives might disagree with my assessment. Just as there seem to be more things to spend less on in New York than in DC, there are surely more things to spend more on.
"That's where the surprise comes from for me"
I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that I continue to pay $270/month to live within a metaphorical stone's throw of Mr. Jefferson's former abode. I know this information helps not.
I signed an offer for a house today. The asking is probably a good $200k under what it would have been a year ago, and I offered $45k below asking plus cash back blah blah. I doubt they'll accept that, but I don't think they'll get their asking price, which is about 30% off from a year ago.
I, for one, am thrilled. And I don't feel bad for profiting off someone's foreclosure, either, b/c it belonged to a 95 year old woman who owned it outright and had lived in it for 23 years, so her heirs are going to pocket a nice chunk of change regardless.
Congrats on the offer. Stressful yet relieving at the same time.
I hope the sellers don't accept it and you can come back and lowball them in a few months, or that they sell it to you immediately at less than your asking.
I'm kinda pissed I won't be able to profit from any real estate slump that may occur in my area. I also missed the dot-com boom. Too much studying.
Wouldn't living in a former Bush appointee's house be sort of creepy? Like knowing someone committed suicide in your bed or something?
24. There's a business opportunity next year for somebody with a bell, book and candle.
there aren't enough lobbying and consulting jobs to absorb them.
Yeah but according to the Centre for Responsible Politics, the top five contributors to the Obama campaign are registered corporate lobbyists. Maybe different pockets will be lined, but there's no doubt that an awful lot of pockets will continue to be lined...
I, for one, am thrilled. And I don't feel bad for profiting off someone's foreclosure, either, b/c it belonged to a 95 year old woman who owned it outright and had lived in it for 23 years, so her heirs are going to pocket a nice chunk of change regardless.
Congrats! Why would someone who owns their house outright get forclosed on?
27: just sheer mean-spiritedness.
Heebie is right, though, that the scenario as portrayed is very confusing. Did she have a reverse mortgage? Did her kids take out debt after she died?
My sense of the DC metro area was that it was a comparative backwater at least through the 1970s and that it was during the "hogs feeding from the trough" Reagan administration that both the beltway sprawl and incredible rise in housing pricesreally got going in high gear*. Much as I hate to share a pont-of-view with John McCain, but last time I flew through Dulles**, I looked down at the sprawl around the airport and could not help but view it as a physical manifestation of pure evil.
*Repub trough feeding surely but a small contributing factor to the overall trend, but pontification requirements trump accuracy requirements.
**While on a mission of totally selfless generosity to provide ponies to starving children the world around. Sadly the ponies were embezzled by corrupt third-world politicians. We're going to just sell them to local gang leaders next time.
31: No, actually they were Honda Civics.
Honda Civic Transformer Crime-fighters? Or just the regular kind?
Gonerill, do you know where in the Triangle you'll be moving yet?
*Repub trough feeding surely but a small contributing factor to the overall trend, but pontification requirements trump accuracy requirements.
My fanny. The massive defense industry (which primarily fuels the growth) ain't no Democratic gin ocean.
33: PONYBOT TRANSFORM AND CONSUME FUEL EFFICIENTLY!
Bitch is saying she doesn't have to feel guilty about buying a house that was foreclosed on, because the house she's trying to buy wasn't foreclosed on. Geez, people.
And one thing that makes NY livable, expense-wise, is that it's (I have the impression, rather than any data) geographically compact enough that areas poor people live are reasonably conveniently accessible from areas rich people live. It's still not cheap, but there's a lot of stuff for sale aimed at a large market of people who aren't rich, and for those of us who aren't, that makes life practical. (I haven't lived for any really extended period of time anyplace else, so maybe everyplace is like this, But the way people talk about the Bay Area, it sounds more economically residentially segregated, in terms of shopping and such.)
34: a point equidistant from the midpoint of the hypotenuse and the midpoint of one of the remaining two sides, and twice again as far from the midpoint of the final side.
Bitch is saying she doesn't have to feel guilty about buying a house that was foreclosed on, because the house she's trying to buy wasn't foreclosed on. Geez, people.
Ohhhhhhhhh. Yes.
The word "so" makes it confusing.
Is there a reason to feel guilty about buying a house that was foreclosed on?
Is there a reason to feel guilty about buying a house that was foreclosed on?
Lending institutions are people too!
But the way people talk about the Bay Area, it sounds more economically residentially segregated, in terms of shopping and such.
It isn't, exactly, it's just that pretty much the whole city is gentrified (rather like Manhattan, really), and the lack of a good subway means that outlying areas (approximately equivalent to the boroughs) are difficult enough to get to that people who can afford it live as close in as they can. Also, the older, denser neighborhoods are much smaller, so that you get into traditional sprawl much sooner, which (a) pushes everything out and (b) gives people the idea that they could drive another little bit, here, and be able to live in a nice single family.
There are western cities with basically no geographical stratification (e.g. Vegas) that still aren't particularly livable; unless you have both the density and the transit there's not much you can do.
LA, of course, is very dense but also uncentralized, has lots of geographical stratification, and has practically zero transit from most parts of the city. So it hits the trifecta of crappy planning.
Maybe back in the day, by buying a foreclosed house, you are creating a market which thrives by ruthlessly kicking people out. But it seems in this market, there are certainly home-owners who are acting in their best interests to fold and get out of a horrible situation.
Is there a reason to feel guilty about buying a house that was foreclosed on?
You're profiting from somebody's suffering, but hey, somebody's gotta.
Is there a reason to feel guilty about buying a house that was foreclosed on?
No, the bank's going to sell it to *somebody*. Might as well be you.
I TOTALLY PWNED APO! FUCKIN' A DUDE!
You fucked a dude before Apo did? Good work!
You pwned me by fuckin' a dude? But I wasn't going to do that.
That whole sequence made me laugh really hard.
Who was the dude? Don't leave us hanging...
Well, a reason to feel guilty about celebrating at how much off the asking price you were getting when it ruined someone else's life, maybe.
Geez you have a kid and all of a sudden it's "let's talk about gay sex!" 24/7. Here I thought apo was the outlier.
The appeal of gay sex becomes obvious to those with children.
No kidding. Cassidy, who up to now had been a pretty good sleeper, is teething and is dead set on ensuring that nobody ever gets to sleep more than hour uninterrupted. I'm so exhausted I can barely see straight.
53 made me imagine a pro-gay ad campaign, touting all the advantages of gay sex, like "have gay sex, and... sleep in every sunday!", or "have gay sex, and take vacations where you want." contrasting happy, multiracial gay couples lolling around in bed and hiking along some beautiful mediterranean island with tired looking parents in the kitchen at the crack of dawn or trooping grimly around a low-rent petting zoo, respectively. "Isn't it time you gave gay sex a try?"
Oy. You just have to remember that nothing lasts forever, and she'll be sleeping again soon.
Well, a reason to feel guilty about celebrating at how much off the asking price you were getting when it ruined someone else's life, maybe.
Foreclosures don't equal cheap homes. There is never equity in the property (if there were, there wouldn't be a foreclosure!), and the judgment obtained by the lending institution is almost always in excess of the property's value because attorney's fees and other costs are included. Sheriff's sales almost always end with the lender bidding its judgment, obtaining title to the home, and then selling it for less on the market.
"Isn't it time you gave gay sex a try?"
Gay sex: it's not just for breakfast anymore.
Gay sex: the pause that refreshes.
Gay sex, with scrubbing bubbles.
Gay sex: once you pop, you can't stop.
Gay sex. What can brown do for you?
Is everyone singing "Gay sex!" to the tune of "King Tut!" or is it just me?
"Born Free."
"King Tut" is good too.
50: Who was the dude? Don't leave us hanging... on the tree.
'Cause Oscar Mayer has a way
With A-N-A-L-S-E-X.
Gay sex. What can brown do for you?
Hah! That's what that goddamn ad campaign has made me think of from the very beginning.
"How do you spell relief? B-L-O-W-J-O-B-S."
56: If you date someone your size...right there, you double your wardrobe.
[in a rapid narrator voice]
Gay sex is not for everyone. Do not try gay sex if you have a heterosexual marriage or a family history of homophobia. Avoid driving or operating heavy machinery while engaging in gay sex. Before trying gay sex, tell your doctor about any symptoms of hemmorhoids, constipation, or flatulence. Possible side effects of gay sex include Santorum, stigmatization from certain social groups, various legal disabilities, and dissatisfaction with your interior decorating scheme. In rare cases, gay sex has resulted in death from violent attacks by ignoramuses. Gay sex is not recommended for children under the age of consent. Pregnant women and nursing mothers should consult with their doctor about the risks and benefits of gay sex.
66: If your gay sex lasts for more than 4 hours post about it on Unfogged call your doctor.
Living rooms! Dinettes! Gay sex. Oh yeah! You can find 'em at the market! We're talkin' bout meat market!
Gay sex: It's where the flavor is!
Gay sex: I'm lovin' it!
Gay sex: Are you in good hands?
YOUR LIFE IS SO BORING
TWO KIDS AND A MUTT
WHY NOT TRY SOMETHING
LIKE TAKIN' IT IN THE BUTT
GAY SEX.
Gay sex: do you have the bunny inside?
Gay sex: the audience is listening.
I think #57 is the best gay sex slogan so far.
Gay Sex: Have it Your Way
Gay Sex: Yes, you can have it all!
Gay Sex: The San Francisco Treat
Gay Sex: Reach Out and Touch Someone
||
For those who like such things, some baby-and-proud-sibling photos in the deggofnU Flickr pool. May cause cluckiness in certain viewers. Compatibility with current thread of gay sex sloganeering uncertain.
|>
Gay sex: Now you're playing with power!
Between love and madness lies... gay sex.
Gay sex: made in Scotland from girders.
And for guys only:
Gay sex: Think outside the box.
If you'd like
To sleep most nights
Have no children
What delight!
GAY SEX.
Do the Wiggles
Leave you cold?
Be a homo
Proud and bold!
GAY SEX.
Gay sex is a terrible thing to waste.
Dogs don't know it's not gay sex.
Gay sex: top breeders recommend it.
And two actual slogans that need no changes.
It's jack-a-licious! (Jack-in-the-Box)
We really move our tail for you. (Continental Airlines)
1st RULE: You do not talk about GAY SEX.
2nd RULE: You DO NOT talk about GAY SEX.
3rd RULE: If someone goes limp, the GAY SEX is over.
...
6th RULE: No shirts, no shoes.
7th RULE: GAY SEX will go on as long as it has to.
8th RULE: If this is your first night you HAVE to have GAY SEX.
GAY SEX: Like a rock. (ooh, like a rock.)
37: Yes, B was profiting from the death of a frail, elderly lady who had done her no harm.
The best part of waking up is gay sex in your butt.
GAY SEX: It's what's up front that counts.
GAY SEX: Strong enough for a man, but made for you.
This is ooooooooooouuuuur gay sex!
If you don't get gay sex at Charter, please, get gay sex somewhere.
69: Heh. One of those stupid pharmaceutical commercials came on last night while watching tv with the munchkin. Leading to the inevitable, "Mom, what's an erection?" That was fun to explain!
This is ooooooooooouuuuur gay sex!
This is not your father's gay sex.
95: See this is why boys need a man in the house, some one who can demonstrate these things.
"Mom, what's an erection?" That was fun to explain!
A few nights ago:
Noah: "Girls don't pee. Only boys pee."
Me: "Everybody pees, Noah."
N: "No, only boys. Girls can't pee because they don't have a penis."
Gay Sex: Bet you can't eat just one
Gay Sex: It's in there
Gay Sex: Good to the last drop
Gay Sex: Because I'm worth it
Gay Sex: Strong enough for a man, but made for a woman
Gay sex: Built ram tough
Gay sex: Refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach
Gay sex: It keeps going, and going, and going...
Gay sex: It takes a licking and keeps on ticking
Gay sex: Put a tiger in your tank
that should really be "Gay Sex: Strong enough for a woman, but made for a man"
Leading to the inevitable, "Mom, what's an erection?" That was fun to explain!
See, if you let Rory hang out with my son, he could explain the birds and the bees to her.
Gay sex: goes down smooth, never lets you down.
100: Kobe is masculonoramitivist.
How do you handle a hungry man? A Man Handler!
101: Precisely why Rory doesn't hang out with your son.
Actually, she's been lobbying to get a girl rat to breed with her boy rat because it would be educational. I'm (bizarrely) considering it.
Gay Sex: The best a man can get
Gay Sex: Anything else is just sex
Gay Sex: Double your pleasure
How has no one come up with "great taste, less filling" yet?
Actually, she's been lobbying to get a girl rat to breed with her boy rat because it would be educational. I'm (bizarrely) considering it.
Does she want to get paid for arranging this encounter?
108: Because we're mostly guys, and it's certainly not less filling for us.
Gay sex: Nobody beats the Wiz.
I'm not sure what that one means.
106: Have you introduced her to the "casual encounters" section of Craiglist yet?
Gay sex: It's everywhere you want to be
Gay sex: It's too good for kids
Surprise your family with Gay Sex instead of potatoes
"I'm not going to pay a lot for this Gay Sex"
117 is genius. They totally do!
Once you pop, you can't stop.
I've got a fever for the flavor of a penis.
I like chicken, I like bear
Gay sex, gay sex, please deliver
Silly rabbit, dicks are for kids!
I changed "liver" to "bear" because liver made no sense. But now it doesn't rhyme.
Gay sex: if it doesn't get all over the place, it doesn't belong in your face.
Betty Crocker knows what guys want: Gay Sex!
I'd like to buy the world a home and furnish it with love,
Grow apple trees and honey bees, and snow white turtle doves.
I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony,
I'd like to buy the world Gay Sex and keep it company.
It's the real thing, Ga-ay Sex, what the world wants today
The nighttime sniffling sneezing coughing aching stuffy head fever so you can have gay sex medicine.
Gay sex: so easy, a caveman can do it!
I can't believe I ate the whole thing.
Sometimes you feel a nut, sometimes you don't.
I always imagined you could make a really terrific cabaret show with a tranny and a woman who peformed together as Mounds and Almond Joy, putting "Almond Joy's got nuts, Mounds don't!" on the poster.
Gay sex: so you can be yourself again
Gay sex: Pry the Friendly Thighs
Gay sex: Melts in your mouth, not in your hands
There's strong, and then there's gay strong.
With a name like Butt Fuckers, it has to be good.
A sloppy joe is a sandwich, but a Manwich is a meal.
Somebody better lay a finger on my butt.
Not going anywhere for a while? Grab a dick.
Nobody does dickin' like the Colonel.
Takes a lickin' and keeps on dickin'
The best part of waking up is Roger in your butt.
The San Francisco treat!
164 meet 91... in bed!
We shaft no mine before its time!
Some of our best men are women.
Nothing comes between me and my Calvin
My men wear studded leather, or nothing at all
Can't beat the feeling
Nothing says lovin' like some intercrural shovin'
Gay Sex. Curiously Strong.
Gay Sex. Welcome to the Next Level.
Plop plop, jizz jizz, oh what a relief it is.
" ... with many energetic butts made pure with IVORY."
—Ivory Soap Ad-ventures, Sticky Butts.
I can't believe I ate the whole thing.
A buck well spent on a Spring Maid sheet.
Out of the crooked cock of humanity, no straight thing was ever made.
From the link in #178:
"Of all of life's many funs, Bill loved to toy with caramels, especially sticky ones. The day was warm, the caramels—a large and dusky pile which lay a-snoozing in the sun made Bill sweetly smile. He braced himself for one big butt, as gazing up aloft he murmured, 'Ah, ye caramels, I love you good and soft!'"
Our backdoor men are the loneliest guys in town.
"Gay Marriage: It's what make a spouse a homo"
This is your taint. This is your taint on Doug. Any questions?
168 see 132.
also, gay sex now comes in rich Corinthian leather.
I'm stuck in Raymond cuz Raymond's stuck in me.
Everybody doesn't like something, but nobody doesn't like sodomy!
Ron, do you ever get that not-so-fucked feeling?
This is your blog. This is your blog after apo gets pwned and meta-pwned by Tweety and Nakku in quick succession back in the 40s.
197 meet 81 and 165 at the bathhouse.
Vaseline -- it's everywhere you want to be.
DK DO NOT BREED YOUR RAT. One mistake sexing the offspring, and it's endless rats all the way down.
Unless (1) you are really ready to enter into an ongoing rat breeding program and (2) Rory is really willing to cull, both of which I seriously doubt.
Re. guilt and foreclosures, Cala got it right. And by "foreclosures" I meant short sales, etc.--anything that basically means some poor fucker way overpaid for a house, as we would have done if we could have afforded to do so a couple of years ago, and now found themselves losing their home. Good sense to get out or not, it's gotta fucking suck.
203: Well, given my propensity for making mistakes with the sexing of vermin... Seriously, thanks for reinforcing that fear. The books, magazines, webpages (the kid has been doing her homework!) make that task sound soooooo easy and, you know, cute little helpless baby rats that are so cute and it's educational mom! Still, I feel way guilty that we bought a single rat who has no playmates and will apparently fight any boy playmates to the death and will need fixing ("vaccinating") before he can have a girl playmate...
When it comes to sexing rats, it's basically only mistakes.
Sterile lady rats, however, are a virtually inexhaustible source of setoff utils.
One mistake sexing the offspring, and it's endless rats all the way down.
The solution to this is not one but two new pets: a female rat and a nice cuddly snake. My son thinks ball pythons are very cool (but can't have one--importing an illegal animal is a felony here).
We replaced the sex they normally have with gay sex. Let's see if they can tell the difference.
207: She originally wanted a snake, actually. And when I told her we would have to feed it cuddly little mice, she said "Maybe we could just feed it male ones." Because she's a feminist. But she didn't get a snake. Because even boy mice are cute and cuddly.
Also, the first time we took her fishing, we had to stick to lures because she decided that the earthworms we bought from the bait shop were her pets. Circle of life and all, but I don't see her feeding her rat brood to a snake.
My beloved 3 1/2 y.o. grandnephew caught 5 fish over the holiday weekend. He's almost able to do it by himself; he has a little trouble grtting them out of the water.
In August we should be off to harrass the trout again. Mine's 11 and I still can't get him to do much fish-cleaning, but that's just laziness, not squeamishness.
