QUESTION: ANYBODY HURTING OUT THERE IN THIS ECONOMY???

[paleontol99-migration]

I work in the information security arena as a government contrator - there's more work than we can keep up with. Crypto-modernization is here and it is being taken seriously.

 

I hear lots of talk about "deflation" and while I am not blind to dropping prices on collectibles I have noticed the opposite trend in essentials. My view is that my grocery and other bills for essentials have risen noticably over the last two years. Anyone else seeing this? It looks like inflation to me - I have a limited view on this stuff - I don't buy groceries on eBay. Could be a regional thing.

 

Hello ckb,

Yes, I have noticed this in certain areas. I notice it when traveling or stopping in smaller towns. When buying from a certain smaller food stores each month, I noticed the prices going up rediculously on some items. When mentioning it to the store owner, his response was " We have less and less customers coming into our store to buy and because we have to lower the amount of items we purchase for resale, we decided to raise the price of goods to cover our bills. Seems a bit self destructive to me although I can see that the immediate need for cash to pay a bill is what creates his immediate relief but Later his possible store destruction. I think this is why so many of the ma and pa stores are getting hurt so bad. I do notice that larger food stores seem to have lower prices. Hard to say cause it seems to be sporadic depending on where one lives so its hard to get a base to go by. In LA, price of a piece of Kabasi is $ 4.95. In Quartzsite, AZ its $ 2.50 and in Amarillo, the price was $ 1.75. I stock up in Amarillo and bring it to LA when heading cross country.

[lizards2]

I work in the information security arena as a government contrator - there's more work than we can keep up with. Crypto-modernization is here and it is being taken seriously.

 

I hear lots of talk about "deflation" and while I am not blind to dropping prices on collectibles I have noticed the opposite trend in essentials. My view is that my grocery and other bills for essentials have risen noticably over the last two years. Anyone else seeing this? It looks like inflation to me - I have a limited view on this stuff - I don't buy groceries on eBay. Could be a regional thing.

 

Absolutely - consumables have risen greatly where I live, and I don't buy hardly any groceries that aren't on sale, and I use coupons as much as possible. The only thing that I see that is cheaper than two years ago is gasoline - summer of 2008 it was about $4.40 a gallon, and right now it is $3.11 here.

 

Taxes are higher than ever, at least in my bracket.

[shadroch]

[jimhouston1]

Hi. I also live in New Jersey. I am a High School Teacher at a Career Education Center ( They used to be called Trade Schools ). I worked as a Professional Staff member at a college for 15 years and then changed careers. I have 2 Masters degrees and have a NYS Permanent Certification to teach Technology classes. I am teaching students to create Interactive Media now. So far I made up the cut in pay I took when I changed careers so I would say I have not been adversely effected there.

 

I also own a TV Production company and specialize in LIVE webcasting of sporting events. That business has really taken a hit. 5 years ago we would get a budget of $ 6,000.00 for a 4 camera shoot with graphics and slo-mo instant replays. We use newer equipment and I am lucky to get $ 2,000.00 a game from a school. TV stations still pay the higher rate because they have a higher quality control that needs to be met. I am ok with it since it is a lot less stressful when everyone knows students are being trained in the business when we webcast. It does take a lot more events to pay for insurance and repairs before I see a profit though.

 

My wife is a real estate agent for 14 years. She is very busy. She personally sells homes in Bergen and Passaic and can get other professionals to get her customers a home anywhere. She knows how important collectibles are to us too, which is one of the reasons why I married her.

[the420kid]

i love that homes are not the investment people thought they were. This whole stupid "home depot mentality" really gets on my nerves - "must go improve my home at all costs!!!" The banks were saying this - and behind your back they were unraveling the entire system.

 

i am glad im young and dont own a home. like a comic book its only worth what someone is willing to pay.

[Icculus308win]

 

The economy is not hurting me too bad....but we are building our dream home, one which I will eventually croak in (hopefully there not in a hospital!)....so that is what is hampering my spending on funny books. There are two SA books I would love to pull the trigger on...but the Mrs. sees house stuff vs. SA butes!!!

[sckao]

i love that homes are not the investment people thought they were. This whole stupid "home depot mentality" really gets on my nerves - "must go improve my home at all costs!!!" The banks were saying this - and behind your back they were unraveling the entire system.

 

i am glad im young and dont own a home. like a comic book its only worth what someone is willing to pay.

 

Uh... the benefits of owning a home are TREMENDOUS. Buying a home you cannot afford is not.

 

 

[jimhouston1]

You need to maintain the place you live in. It is can be a house, apartment or RV, whatever you call home, you need to take care of it. We just finished painting the room the family computer is in and replacing the ceiling light fixture. Bought all the stuff from Home Depot. It also makes me feel better when we do the work ourselves and it comes out good.

 

Keeping the place clean and up to date will help it keep its value when we choose to sell and downsize.

 

Think of it as upgrading your collection whenever you can and you will help your collection maintain some of it's value.

[Snake Eyes]

i love that homes are not the investment people thought they were. This whole stupid "home depot mentality" really gets on my nerves - "must go improve my home at all costs!!!" The banks were saying this - and behind your back they were unraveling the entire system.

 

i am glad im young and dont own a home. like a comic book its only worth what someone is willing to pay.

 

Uh... the benefits of owning a home are TREMENDOUS. Buying a home you cannot afford is not.

 

 

No kidding...pretty questionable analysis there. My mortgage is roughly equivalent to what I paid in rent on my previous apartment. Improvements are optional and a neglible cost ($25 a month to the guy doing my yard is the only recurrent expense). Now when I move I at least get something back (as opposed to the nothing from the apartment). You are right that the home is worth what someone is willing to pay...but an apartment/rental has no value to you at all aside from obviously having a place to live. Further, my tax refund nearly doubled with the interest write-off that I did not have before Oh, and did I mention the home buyer credit??? Seems to me if you can find a place you like, and it is within your means (although it is more work from a time-intensive point of view to upkeep the home) sckao is correct the benefits are tremendous (plus I get the subjective pleasure of feeling all grown up and adult now )

[lizards2]

(plus I get the subjective pleasure of feeling all grown up and adult now )

 

Pleasure?

[Icculus308win]

i love that homes are not the investment people thought they were. This whole stupid "home depot mentality" really gets on my nerves - "must go improve my home at all costs!!!" The banks were saying this - and behind your back they were unraveling the entire system.

 

i am glad im young and dont own a home. like a comic book its only worth what someone is willing to pay.

Uh... the benefits of owning a home are TREMENDOUS. Buying a home you cannot afford is not.

 

 

If only more Americans would think like you!! There are NEEDS and WANTS....why roughly 30% of Americans didn't understand this or still can't fathom this, is beyond me.

[lizards2]

i love that homes are not the investment people thought they were. This whole stupid "home depot mentality" really gets on my nerves - "must go improve my home at all costs!!!" The banks were saying this - and behind your back they were unraveling the entire system.

 

i am glad im young and dont own a home. like a comic book its only worth what someone is willing to pay.

Uh... the benefits of owning a home are TREMENDOUS. Buying a home you cannot afford is not.

 

 

If only more Americans think like you!! There are NEEDS and WANTS....why roughly 30% of Americans don't understand thi, is beyond me.

 

I laugh at the foreclosures in McMansionland....., that's where the real dumb@sses dwell..., ::

[Snake Eyes]

i love that homes are not the investment people thought they were. This whole stupid "home depot mentality" really gets on my nerves - "must go improve my home at all costs!!!" The banks were saying this - and behind your back they were unraveling the entire system.

 

i am glad im young and dont own a home. like a comic book its only worth what someone is willing to pay.

Uh... the benefits of owning a home are TREMENDOUS. Buying a home you cannot afford is not.

 

 

If only more Americans would think like you!! There are NEEDS and WANTS....why roughly 30% of Americans didn't understand this or still can't fathom this, is beyond me.

 

True, there really does seem to be a growing disconnect between understanding the difference between what we have to have (i.e. food, shelter, social contact) and what we want (i.e. lobster and steak dinners, a five bedroom home with a pool, and to go out to clubs every Friday and Saturday night). As someone who completes a half dozen or so psychological evaluations a week, the sense of entitlement amongst the general population has reached frightening proportions.

 

OK suppose we are starting to veer a little too close to politics. Back to the OP question. Thankfully, I have managed to survive the downturn relatively intact, with the only noticeable impact being a freeze on raises in my full-time position (I set the rates in my private practice and have left them the same for a couple years now as well). My wife (a social worker at a rural hospital), however, has been furloughed 30% (working only 28 hours a week now). So there has been a reduction in some frivilous spending.

[Snake Eyes]

(plus I get the subjective pleasure of feeling all grown up and adult now )

 

Pleasure?

 

The happiness of having the illusion of respectability (home, wife, job, two cars in the garage) while completely indulging in my childhood pursuits during my free time (video games, toys, and comics )

[dupont2005]

A friend of mine lost a home he bought in Rancho Cucamonga because of the skyrocketing interest. When he bought it the mortgage was $1,500 a month, and easily affordable. Within a year because of interest the mortgage was $3,000 a month. Bad decision on the loan sure, but he wasn't a lawyer or financial expert and it was his first home. It's not like he went out and bought a home expecting to pay three grand a month.

[djpinkpanther67]

To answer the initial question of the thread - yes.

[ComicConnoisseur]

i love that homes are not the investment people thought they were. This whole stupid "home depot mentality" really gets on my nerves - "must go improve my home at all costs!!!" The banks were saying this - and behind your back they were unraveling the entire system.

 

i am glad im young and dont own a home. like a comic book its only worth what someone is willing to pay.

 

Uh... the benefits of owning a home are TREMENDOUS. Buying a home you cannot afford is not.

What else that happened was people bought houses and took out $500,000 thousand dollar loans only to find out those houses are now only worth $185,000!

So it wasn`t just taking out a loan they couldn`t afford but buying something of overpriced value(sound familar?), I always took this advice from my now dear departed 93 year old grandfather, he told me when I was a kid "If it looks too good to be true, then it probably is."

There are people who pray on dreams and would love to get rich off of people. Yes even credit card companies/banks, they really want people to fail so they can collect debt/interest fees. buyers beware!

[dupont2005]

During the housing boom my dad went from being a small time custom home builder to a major land developer specializing in high end subdivisions/country clubs. He had a history of business failures and wasn't building the best quality homes. He just happened to own six lots in an area that skyrocketed in value. He built them and sold them for something like six times what he planned on selling them for, and started buying unincorporated land on the outskirts of town. As the land got incorporated he would plot it and sell it in lots. Then land values were increasing so much he was just buying land, anywhere at any price, sitting on it a couple weeks and selling it again for a huge markup without doing any work to it. At that time I was working for minimum wage and knew nothing of the housing market, but I knew something was wrong. My mothers house, purchased in 1999 for 70k, was worth 400k six years later. My dad swore things would only go up, and he lost everything. To this day the subdivision he sunk everything into is sitting on the side of the interstate with six model homes, a bunch of empty unbuilt lots, and surrounded by green dust screens. It's been sitting that way since about 2006. My dad is no longer involved in it, but that's where all his money went.

[sckao]

i love that homes are not the investment people thought they were. This whole stupid "home depot mentality" really gets on my nerves - "must go improve my home at all costs!!!" The banks were saying this - and behind your back they were unraveling the entire system.

 

i am glad im young and dont own a home. like a comic book its only worth what someone is willing to pay.

 

Uh... the benefits of owning a home are TREMENDOUS. Buying a home you cannot afford is not.

What else that happened was people bought houses and took out $500,000 thousand dollar loans only to find out those houses are now only worth $185,000!

So it wasn`t just taking out a loan they couldn`t afford but buying something of overpriced value(sound familar?), I always took this advice from my now dear departed 93 year old grandfather, he told me when I was a kid "If it looks too good to be true, then it probably is."

There are people who pray on dreams and would love to get rich off of people. Yes even credit card companies/banks, they really want people to fail so they can collect debt/interest fees. buyers beware!

 

Well, no. If you could afford a $500,000 house, you'd still be able to pay for it even if it was underwater. That's called signing a contract and abiding by the terms.

 

The problem is getting an Adjustable Rate mortgage which you can barely pay for and then complaining when it actually adjusts UPWARD.

 

 

[BrianR]

i love that homes are not the investment people thought they were. This whole stupid "home depot mentality" really gets on my nerves - "must go improve my home at all costs!!!" The banks were saying this - and behind your back they were unraveling the entire system.

 

i am glad im young and dont own a home. like a comic book its only worth what someone is willing to pay.

 

Uh... the benefits of owning a home are TREMENDOUS. Buying a home you cannot afford is not.

What else that happened was people bought houses and took out $500,000 thousand dollar loans only to find out those houses are now only worth $185,000!

So it wasn`t just taking out a loan they couldn`t afford but buying something of overpriced value(sound familar?), I always took this advice from my now dear departed 93 year old grandfather, he told me when I was a kid "If it looks too good to be true, then it probably is."

There are people who pray on dreams and would love to get rich off of people. Yes even credit card companies/banks, they really want people to fail so they can collect debt/interest fees. buyers beware!

 

Well, no. If you could afford a $500,000 house, you'd still be able to pay for it even if it was underwater. That's called signing a contract and abiding by the terms.

 

The problem is getting an Adjustable Rate mortgage which you can barely pay for and then complaining when it actually adjusts UPWARD.

 

 

For over a year dealing with foreclosures and hearing people's stories, I can tell you while a lot of people lost their jobs, became under-employed, (these people are who I feel sorry for) there were a great number of people those homes were upside down and they simply walked away. They seemed to feel why should they pay more for something than what it is worth. My home has lost half it's value and even with my pay dropping more than half, we could still afford it and have no plans to walk away. It's a home not an investment. People that just walk away upset me as its those people and people with that type of mentally are a large cause of the current economic downturn. Everytime a nieghbor decides he doesn't want to pay for his house due to being upside down your home market value now drops even more. Another thing that bugs me about these people as they will stay in the house as long a possible (for months) rent free then when they finally forced out they take everything including the kitchen sink.