Funny thing. The stock market is down. People are being laid off, but land prices where I am seem to be going up. Have you seen this happening?

What's going on?

Maybe land is the next speculative bubble.

-- Rick#7 (rick7@postmark.net), September 24, 2001

Answers

Except for those areas where the economy just flat overheated and went out of control (Silicon Valley comes to mind) land prices for homes, small farms and the like don't seem to respond much to the stock market, short term interest rates and such. My wife and I are buying our first homestead and *hope* to close this week so we've paid close attention to the price of homes and land in six counties here in North Florida surrounding the one we're presently living in for over a year now. The market has plunged, short term interest rates have plunged but home sales have remained steady and mortgage rates haven't dropped all that much (not relative to what the Fed has been doing anyways). We couldn't get the seller to come off a nickle on their asking price for the place because they thought they could sell it pretty quick. We found it only about two weeks after it came on the market and likely they were right, it would have sold fairly quick. The best we could do was get them to agree to about four thousand dollars in repairs and upgrades which softened the blow for us.

={(Oak)-

-- Live Oak (oneliveoak@yahoo.com), September 24, 2001.

Rick, since most people aren't cash buyers of land I think they tend to look more at the mortgage payment than the total price. If I'm looking to buy land with a mortgage and can afford $735/mo. I really don't care if it's $100,000 they're mortgaging at 8% or $122,600 at 6%. If they're looking at what $735/mo. will let them buy, either set of numbers work. I think that's part of what's keeping property values strong.

The problem can arise when rates climb back up forcing the sale prices downward to accomodate lower payments for buyers. All of a sudden someone's had that parcel they bought for $122,600 and have made seven years of payments on and still owe $110,000. If rates climb substantially enough to force the market price back down to near $100,000, they may be forced to write a check at closing in order to sell.

With most things financial, time has a way of making bad decisions not so bad. Real estate is generally the standard bearer in those. Historically, if you keep your property, even if you bought at an artificial high, time will make you right. The problems occur when you don't have the staying power to wait for it.

I've long said when you're talking about buying real estate for residential/personal use and selling 'A' to buy 'B' and so on as many do through their lives there are only two times when the market really matters to you. Those are when you buy your first home and sell your last one. On every transaction in between the market is rather irrelavent. If it's high you sell at the top but pay a premium for the next one. If its' low, you have to give yours away but you get a steal on the next one.

This is all just an opinion from one guy in the heartland and it's only guaranteed to be worth what you paid to read it. Nonetheless, I hope this helps.

-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), September 28, 2001.

My husband was talking to a banker friend recently and he says that you can now get a home loan for 50 years. I believe he said that was about 32 years of interest. How would you ever sell that house? You couldn't hope to pay it off so what do they do? Scares me. Joanie in Ohio

-- Joanie (ber-gust@podigy.net), September 30, 2001.

Joanie, talk about diminishing returns! A $100,000 loan at 7% for 30 years has a payment of $665. Extend that term to 50 years and your payment only drops $63 a month! Take that rate up to 9% and the 30 year payment is $805 while 50 years only drops to $759.

Personally, I like the even shorter fifteen year term. Your payment is a little higher but you can actually see some light at the end of the tunnel. ;o)

-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), October 01, 2001.

Joanie, you could sell the house anytime provided it's selling price exceeded the loan payoff by more than the cost of sale (usually around 10%). You don't have to have your home paid off in order to sell it.

The numbers are tough, though. In the example of a $100,000 loan at 7% on a 50 year term it'll take you 20 years to get to a point where you can sell the property for $100,000, pay your 10% costs of sale and only have to write a small check at closing in order to sell it!

After 20 years of payments you'll still owe over $90,400. If you sell then for $100,000 and pay $10,000 in sale costs it'll ONLY cost you something over $400 to walk away.

The thing that usually makes doing things like this possible is the appreciation on your property. If your property appreciates over that 20 years then all of that appreciation raises your sale price and makes the numbers palatable for you.

-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), October 01, 2001.

Our President

greenspun.com : LUSENET : ACountryPlace : One Thread User FAQ

I do not know who wrote this. It was sent to me without the author's name. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was the same man who came within a hair's breadth of losing an election in November, who withstood the political chicanery of the Florida Democratic machine to fix the vote count.

This was the same man who admitted to having a drinking problem in younger years, and whose happy-go-lucky lifestyle led him to mediocre grades in college and an ill-fated oil venture.

This was the same man who mangled syntax even more than his father, and whose speaking missteps became known as "Bushisms."

And on Friday, this was the man who bore the weight of the world and the responsibilities of a generation with dignity, class, confidence, appropriate solemnity, and even much-needed wit.

One thing struck me during the campaign, that difficult, roller- coaster campaign that now seems years ago. It was that George W. Bush never seemed to get ruffled. Whether the theft of a campaign debate video or the sudden (some would say, vicious) release of a DUI arrest two decades ago at a key moment, "W" did not lose his cool.

At times, his staff seemed overconfident, as did many of us. A 350-electoral-vote win, they quietly implied . . . and we optimistically believed. Then they counted the votes, miscounted others, and re-counted still others. At the end, he was still there. Whereas Al Gore almost frantically huffed and puffed, trying to gin up something out of nothing, Bush quietly but confidently waited at his ranch.

He didn't do nothing: that is the mistake people have constantly made with this man, confusing lack of bluster for absence of action. No, his team of attorneys and the iron-willed James Baker were carrying out his orders, but W stayed in the background, confident and faithful.

You see, it is this faith business that confounded everyone. We have had such actors and liars in public office that we have looked skeptically whenever anyone used the term faith. But this was the same man who was the first politician ever in recent memory to name Jesus Christ as the Lord of his life on public TV. Not an oblique reference to being "born-again" or having a "life change." He said the un-PC-like phrase, "Jesus Christ," to which his handlers and advisors, no doubt, off stage, were also saying, "Jesus Christ" in a much different tone.

God has a way of honoring those who honor Him. David learned that while he was on the run from Saul's armies. Job learned that after his time of horrible tribulation. The Messiah said so Himself, many times.

So this was the man who actually put faith into practice. He actually loves those who hate him. It is a staggering concept, so foreign in daily occurrence that few thought it anything but grandstanding. Even one of W's biggest supporters chided the President for adhering to his "new tone." Yet there he was, again and again, thanking the Democrats, appointing his enemies to high places in his government, inviting his former foes and their wives to private movie screenings, and (I know, this is hard to stomach) even treating them with dignity. See, this was the man who learned early on how faith worked: by praying for his enemies, you "heap burning coals upon their heads."

This was the man who named the absolute top people in national security and defense, then caught barbs from the politically righteous that this one didn't have the right views on abortion or that one didn't have the right position on guns.

And on September 11, at mid-morning, this was the man thrust into a position only known by Roosevelt, Churchill, Lincoln, and Washington. The weight of the world was on his shoulders, and the responsibility of a generation was on his soul. So this same man---the one that the media repeatedly attempted to tarnish with charges of "illegitimacy," and the one whose political opponents desperately sought to stonewall until mid-term elections---walked to his seat at the front of the National Cathedral just three days after the two most impressive symbols of American capitalism and prosperity virtually evaporated, along with, perhaps, thousands of Americans.

As he sat down next to his wife, immediately I knew that even if his faith ever faltered, hers didn't. I have never seen a more peaceful face than Laura Bush, whose eyes seemed as though they were already gazing at the final outcome . . . not just of this conflict, but of her reward in Heaven itself. In this marriage, you indeed got two for the price of one.

Then came the defining moment of our generation. Some people fondly recall their Woodstock days. Others mark with grim sadness November 22, 1963, as the day America lost her innocence. But I firmly believe when the history of this time is written, it will be acknowledged by friend and foe alike that President George W. Bush came of age in that cathedral and lifted a nation off its knees. It wasn't so much his words, though read a decade later, they will indeed be as stirring as any. This conflict would end, he noted, ". . . at a time of our choosing." It certainly wasn't his emotion. What had to have been one of the most stunning exhibitions of self-control in presidential history, W was able to deliver his remarks without losing either his resolve or his focus, or, more important, his confidence. It was as if God's hand, which had guided him through that sliver-thin election, now rested fully on him.

His quiet confidence let our enemies know . . . and believe me, they know. . . that they made a grave miscalculation. Now, this same man who practiced his faith through a tough election, who steeled his convictions even more in a drawn-out Florida battle, and who never once gave in to the temptation to get in the gutter with his foes this same man now lifted the weight of the world and the responsibility of a generation and put it on his modest shoulders as though it were another unpleasant duty.

As he walked back to his seat, the camera angle was appropriate. He was virtually alone in the scene, alone in that massive place of God, just him and the Lord. But that's the way it's always been in his life recently. In that brief time it took him to return to his seat, I believe he heard words to the effect of, "You can do this, George. I am with you always. And you can do this well, because I am going before you. And don't worry about the weight. I've got it." And I saw in his eyes a quiet acknowledgement. "I know. Thank you, Lord."

Back at his seat, when W sat down, George H. W. Bush reached over and took his son's hand. The elder Bush always struck me as a religious man, but not someone who shared his life on a daily basis with the Lord. George H. W. treats the Father like a respected uncle, visiting Him on appropriate holidays and knowing the relationship is real, but not constant.

Anyway, I believe that in that fatherly squeeze George H. W. said, "I wish I could do this for you, son, but I can't. You have to do this on your own."

W squeezed back and gave him that look of peace that Laura had kept throughout. It said, "I don't have to do it alone, dad. I've got help."

*******************

What a blessing to have a professing Christian as President - one who is not ashamed to admit it! Please take a moment after you read this to pray for him - he truly does have the weight of the world on his shoulders. Pray that God will sustain him and give him wisdom and discernment in his decisions. Make no mistake about it - the decisions he makes in the coming days, weeks and months will literally define the future of our country and the free world. Pray for his protection and that of his family.

Little Bit Farm

-- Little bit farm (littleBit@compworldnet.com), October 05, 2001

Answers

A recent article in the Deseret News(SLC)speaks of President Bush meeting with religious leaders prior to one of those important meetings, and states, "One minister asked the president about the specifics of how he would like people to pray for him... He asked for prayers that we would have wisdom, strength, and clarity of thought and for prayers for his family" http://www.rulds2.com/news/view.asp?id=2001- 82122183144&i=0

-- mary (marylgarcia@aol.com), October 05, 2001.

Our President

greenspun.com : LUSENET : ACountryPlace : One Thread User FAQ

I do not know who wrote this. It was sent to me without the author's name. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was the same man who came within a hair's breadth of losing an election in November, who withstood the political chicanery of the Florida Democratic machine to fix the vote count.

This was the same man who admitted to having a drinking problem in younger years, and whose happy-go-lucky lifestyle led him to mediocre grades in college and an ill-fated oil venture.

This was the same man who mangled syntax even more than his father, and whose speaking missteps became known as "Bushisms."

And on Friday, this was the man who bore the weight of the world and the responsibilities of a generation with dignity, class, confidence, appropriate solemnity, and even much-needed wit.

One thing struck me during the campaign, that difficult, roller- coaster campaign that now seems years ago. It was that George W. Bush never seemed to get ruffled. Whether the theft of a campaign debate video or the sudden (some would say, vicious) release of a DUI arrest two decades ago at a key moment, "W" did not lose his cool.

At times, his staff seemed overconfident, as did many of us. A 350-electoral-vote win, they quietly implied . . . and we optimistically believed. Then they counted the votes, miscounted others, and re-counted still others. At the end, he was still there. Whereas Al Gore almost frantically huffed and puffed, trying to gin up something out of nothing, Bush quietly but confidently waited at his ranch.

He didn't do nothing: that is the mistake people have constantly made with this man, confusing lack of bluster for absence of action. No, his team of attorneys and the iron-willed James Baker were carrying out his orders, but W stayed in the background, confident and faithful.

You see, it is this faith business that confounded everyone. We have had such actors and liars in public office that we have looked skeptically whenever anyone used the term

-- (bin jr @ laden.com), October 05, 2001.