From Bloomberg: "Federal employees whose compensation averages more than $126,000 and the nation’s greatest concentration of lawyers helped Washington edge out San Jose as the wealthiest U.S. metropolitan area, government data show."
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
The class warfare began long before Obama was on the scene. Let's agree to keep that debate off this site.
The Bloomberg article is poorly written. The $126k fed. figure includes benefits but in other places, the writer talks only about salaries, eg, for private sector lawyers. Wealth is very different from income. Are there 170k federal workers in DC proper or in the region?
Ok. I took it off. Wealth is related to salary to a large extent. I would, however, guess that people in silly valley have great wealth in stock and/or options.
Agree. This is an article with a political Agenda.
Also, you can't compare average salaries of federal employoees to the nation, because federal employees are on average a lot more educated than the nation. A minority of people in the U.S. even graduate from college.
So the article is making apples to oranges comparisons to make a political point and move the argument of the Occupy Wall Street movement back to federal government, or Washington D.C.
I do agree that contractors make more than federal employees. But on average not as much as Wall Street people, I would bet. And those who want to eliminate federal jobs want to convert the to private sector jobs, which are more expensive to taxpayers.
Anon says:
"'Should I have gotten into a bidding war for some of those properties?'
Personally, I think yes. See, the moment we buy, by definition, we become the "greatest fool" able "
That's kind of a silly definition, Anon.
It's one thing to be entering a negotiation with a seller, it's a whole nother thing to get into a race with N number of ridiculous idiots.
Let's consider one of my favorite
examples of crazy bidding wars.
http://franklymls.com/AR7539399
heavily damaged, bizarre piece of land, major road in the front porch, started at 187K, bid to 300?
Now am I well served bidding 301K? for this ? When i'm paying 1K for rent?
now it's easy to say the index moved X percent in a zip code, but I don't buy the index. I buy a house.
And it's easy for you to say the place was overpriced, but, the
unit around the corner?
http://franklymls.com/DC7543834
http://franklymls.com/DC6971630
http://franklymls.com/DC7212734
Should I have gotten into bidding wars with these buyers?
Get Real.
As for next year, lets see what happens in the market.
If i weren't in school, i'd be happy hanging here in Arlington,
enjoying my reasonable rent while people were paying
http://franklymls.com/AR7161836
429?
Or my favorite Myerton?
I notice you don't like to talk about Myerton, which has failed miserably, twice.
I am Costa Rica Real Estate Expert and I really want to know about Real estate status in USA and some other countries like canada.
"Pat said...That's kind of a silly definition, Anon."
Agreed, "greatest fool" is an emotional buzzword. Some people see it and instinctively think "no not me"...Still, its the truth of the situation is that you effectively outpriced everyone else to that home. If you can recognize that fact, and be comfortable with it (as we all should as we all will be the "greatest fool" at one point), congrats.
++++++++++++++++
"Pat said...It's one thing to be entering a negotiation with a seller, it's a whole nother thing to get into a race with N number of ridiculous idiots."
The ridiculous "idiots" are always out there whether you are aware of them or not. They look at the MLS too. If they see a house and think its a bargain, they swoop in and bid. If they dont, the house sits.
Incidentally, if none of the "idiots" is willing to make a bid the same price you are, what does that make you? You realize right now there is some other person, even more bearish than you, eyeballing that same house, incrediulous that it is under contract, thinking, I cant believe some "idiot" would pay more than 50K for that place!
Again, as with the greatest fool thing, embrace that fact, dont run from it. At the end of the day, once we buy, we all become the "idiot" in someone (more bearish than you) eyes.
++++++++++++++++
"Pat said...heavily damaged, bizarre piece of land, major road in the front porch, started at 187K, bid to 300? Now am I well served bidding 301K?"
If you dont think its worth 301K, then obviously no. Still, going in you had no idea how may bids it would elicit. If you thought it was worth 200K, it would not have harmed you to offer 200k. If the next highest bid turned out to be 199K, then yay, you won. Likewise, since 300K is more than your 199K bid, you lose, you move on. No biggie.
But why the fixation on the 300K selling price versus your bid which likely would have been in the 185-200K range? Are you saying you have so little self control and emotional maturity that you would have ended up biding 301K?
++++++++++++++
"Pat said...now it's easy to say the index moved X percent in a zip code, but I don't buy the index. I buy a house."
Correct. And the index, and other similar data is telling you, your house, if offered in 2009 would have sold for 5-10% less than current prices. You can either accept this fact, or you cant.
++++++++++
"Pat said...Or my favorite Myerton? I notice you don't like to talk about Myerton, which has failed miserably, twice."
Its not that I "dont like to talk about it" as much as I have no idea what Myerton is, or why I should care about it. If it means so much to you, then point to you...I hereby stipulate to you on any and all arguments involving Myerton...I am vanquished...
Anon
for a man who makes it a habit to keep URLs to every post you want to flog people with, it's amazing you don't have any links to myerton.
here' I'll give you a primer:
Google myerton site:novabubblefallout.blogspot.com
http://novabubblefallout.blogspot.com/2011/08/northern-virginia-bits-bucket-832011.html
" i think Anon leaves out the difference between Rent/Price ratio in his analysis.
hey all remmeber Myerton, the ill fated condo conversion in my hood?
http://www.arlnow.com/2011/07/29/myerton-again-changes-course-on-housing-project/
"Just five months after announcing its units at The Myerton would be sold as condominiums instead of rented as apartments, JBG has reversed course on the project.
Realtor Laura Rubinchuk Schwartz tells us that slow sales and a hot rental market prompted JBG to stop selling the units at 108 S. Courthouse Road. The developer had made the decision in February to begin sales instead of renting the units."
now i had done a somewhat tedious analysis showing how it was $800/month more to own then rent there.
So, the property has been screwed up for years by wanna be developers.
I wonder how much money the developers made here?"
or
http://novabubblefallout.blogspot.com/2011/03/northern-virginia-february-housing.html
"You should consider a apples to apples comparison"
I rent a 2BR/1Ba for 1035 plus utilities.
http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/jbg_to_convert_myerton_apartments_to_condos/2957
"Sales are expected to begin in early March with one-bedrooms starting at $244,900 and two-bedrooms at $294,900. "
so I can buy a 2BR/1Ba for $300K,
so that's $1700 PI plus TI takes me to $2K plus HOA. Plus I get a pool, Gym and Dishwasher/W/D. Negatives, I get Black Mold. The comments there are hysterical.
In order for a Condo to match up to my current rent I figure it should max out at a 2BR for 150K.
or
http://novabubblefallout.blogspot.com/2010/01/northern-virginia-bits-bucket-1192010.html
"
It is my thesis there is an oversupply of dwelling units.
That a huge amount were built in the bubble (Build for 150-180/SF, sell for 300-400/SF, Rinse, Repeat).
This is why i believe the real trick is for the number of units to find a buyer, not the other way around.
I look at the Halstead on Columbia Pike 40% vacant. Myerton Apartments 30% empty. Those properties near clarendon.
Nope, Bernanke is desperate to keep these off the market, and would even pay Al Qaeda to blow up a few thousand towers in Miami before he'd see them hit the market.
However the world will out...."
as for Bidding wars, the definition of a war is shooting more bullets at the other guy then he can at you until they surrender.
If you think bidding wars are a great idea, why don't you tell us about bidding wars that have paid off
Post a Comment