New 5 dollar bill

We will be using very soon...

Misc Family Pics

Home PICS Week 07

After the extremely fast progress of the last past weeks (on the oustide of the house), they are now working on the inside and the roof.

The house is 78 feet long (+/- 25 meter)

The house is 55 feet wide (16 meter). At the lake side there is no wall between the outer left and outer right wall. It is 1 space that is 16 meters wide, just like we wanted it.

This lovely lady was present at our lot when I took the pics. I wonder if she is included in the sales price.

The garages...

They are working on the roof right now. I expect they will install the tiles in the coming 2 weeks.

Our windows are tinted, dual glazed and lowE.

This is going to be a nice entrance.

Inside the house. Plumbing, electrical, etc...

Who killed the electric car

One of the most crucial things on our planet that hasn't faced a big improvement for more than 150 years is the combustion engine. It was invented in the 1850's and if we take a look at it's present day use, NOTHING has changed to the concept. Engines have become more powerful, more efficient and less noisy, BUT there was no real technological breakthrough in the last 150 years... That doesn't seem right.

A wise person once told me: " When you invent an electric or hydrogen based engine, someone will visit you with 2 bags. One bag is filled with money, the other one holds a gun. It's your choice..."

I watched a documentary this week-end: "Who killed the electric car?". Extremely exciting, similar to Michael Moore's documentaries, every scene is hilarious, unbelievable and sad at the same time.

I will post a trailer and the full version of the documentary.

$200 a barrel for oil will probably be the best thing that can happen for our environment. Hopefully it changes American mindsets about our planet. Hopefully they will bring that Hummer, SUV, ... back to the dealership. In any case they can't foreclose on it :-)

This is the trailer:


Full Movie
1/11

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10/11

11/11


GM (general motors) 10-year chart

Media Hype

Yep, they helped to create this mess... 875 000 for a house next to a busy street WITHOUT any garages... wtf

A correct present day list price would be around $275 000.

Lisa's birthday

A present from our visitors:

Prepare for the UK housingCRASH

Midweek update

Who-gar-den

Meet our neighbours

Directions: facing our home and the street at your back.

Neighbour on the left.

Neighbour on the right hand side.

Neighbour on the opposite side of our home. (hence no lake lot)

New to build home, 2nd home to the right hand side of our lot.

Opposite from our home, no lake lot.

3rd lot on the left of our home. (lake lot)

Home PICS Week 06

Our rooftiles have arrived:

Our master bedroom:

View of balcony/deck master bedroom:

Two of our baths have arrived:

No one can destroy a country in 8 years

Oil chart (adjusted for inflation)

US National debt
Jobless rate
Gold chart Euro/dollar chart

Yes HE CAN

LOW for the dollar

I think we are close to a long term low for the dollar.
- Extremely negative/bearish attitude towards the dollar, most people think the dollar will be worth "sh*t". Markets work in the opposite direction of what mainstream "main street" thinks.
- A lot of negativity is already built in the current 1.58 quote against the euro.
- 275 more days and the worst president ever has to walk away. He can always change the law and ask for a 3rd term, there is a possibility that 51% of the Americans would support him...
- The market will discount the change in policy of the Obama administration before he is elected.
- The dollar had a severe decline because of the mortgage mess. There is no way that the Euro and the Pound Sterling will escape their local mess. Especially Great Britain is in a huge mess, $400 000 for the median home ... No one can afford that when they tax you 50%. The government has aided Northern Rock and will have to save more banks.
- Because of the European (Spain, Belgium, France) mortgage mess, the ECB will have to lower interest rates. Idem dito for the Central bank of England. The dollar will become more attractive on a relative basis.

What got us into this mess?

3 words: ignorance, stupidity and GREED...

Wonder if she is still laughing now in 2008 ...probably collecting food stamps?

50 Years Atomium

It took us 8 months

to have a higher credit score than the average American. (average credit score 692)

Midweek update

6 more days until

Lisa's birthday... you are warned, some lightning will struck Maricopa at her birthday party.

Dr Phil is going to divorce

Who is going to give HIM some advice?

Who's your daddy now?

April 15 is NATIONAL war donation day

or in other words, in the USA ... taxes are due.

IKEA job interview

Visitor spike

This blog recorded a very weird visitor spike on March 19, 2008. 177 visitors visited this website, 163 of them were unique visitors.

Normally this blog has about 20 unique visitors and 42 visits per day.

I have no idea what happened then.

Will the (now Socialist) US government bailout the biggest bank in the US: CITIGROUP (with our tax money)?

This chart never ceases to amaze me.

Bear Stearns 1-year chart

Citigroup 1-year chart
Or will they have to sell the company (C) on the cheap to some Arabic-oil-Bush-related-country?

Printing all those dollars was apparently not such a good idea, Alan and Ben...

WARM WARM WARM weather here in Copa

April 14th is the first REAL HOT arizona summer day.

Need some cash FAST?

Cashcall will lend you $2600 at a meager 99% interest rate.
Even the Sopranos had better rates.

LINK

Walkthrough

1st floor

2nd floor

Income

I was doing some research on income and tax related items here in the US:

2006 numbers

113 000 000 families

19% of those families earn more than $100 000 a year (before tax, but that is almost the same as after tax if you're smart :-)

12.5% earn less than the poverty threshold (poverty threshold =+/-$20 000 for a family of four)

Median income = income level where half earns more and half earns less (does NOT equal "average" income)

Median income USA: $48 200

Median income in Arizona $44 700

Highest Median income State in the USA: New Jersey $60 000

Taxes in the USA:

Filing JOINTLY

Standard deduction for a JOINT filing is +/- $11 000.

A tax credit of $1 000 is provided for every child.

TAX BRACKETS

$0 - $15,650: 10% of the amount over $0
$15,650 - $63,700: $1,565.00 plus 15% of the amount over 15,650
$63,700 - $128,500: $8,772.50 plus 25% of the amount over 63,700
$128,500 - $195,850: $24,972.50 plus 28% of the amount over 128,500
$195,850 - $349,700: $43,830.50 plus 33% of the amount over 195,850
$349,700 - no limit: $94,601.00 plus 35% of the amount over 349,700

Example:

Family of 4 earns $100 000 a year.

They take the standard deduction: - 11000

89 000 taxable income

Tax: 8772.5 + 6325 = 15097.5

- 2000 (tax credit 2 children)

= 13097.5 tax = 13%

AND that is WITHOUT any extra deductions ...

The USA is a TAX paradise. Mijn gedacht!

Habba Habba

Pic from bloomingdesert.com

Video file construction site

Home PICS Week 05

Front: On the right hand side you can see two (fake)chimneys.

This is the block wall that seperates the backyards in our street.

Saturday 1 PM, they are working with 5 people to finish our home. They expect to finish our home at the end of July 2008.

Midweek update

The world's biggest housing bubble is about to deflate ...

"The Prime Minister sought to allay fears of a full-blown property slump after the country's biggest lender revealed an average price drop of 2.5 per cent during March – the biggest monthly fall since 1992."

LINK

Apparently the housing crash won't stop at the UK border... (-2.5% in March = 30+% a year)

EXTREMELY OVERINFLATED: average UK property costing £191,556

That is about $400 000 with one of the highest tax rates in the world, you have to earn a lot of pingping before you are able to pay that kind of mortgage...

Auch that's gonna hurt

Dumb, dumber and Kendra Todd

She will not go in history as one of the greatest economists of our time...

September 26, 2006

Is the Real Estate Market in Bubble Trouble?

Kendra Todd: You can't go anywhere without hearing people talk about "the real estate bubble." Such talk drives me to distraction, and I'll tell you why. It's because there is no real estate bubble. Bubbles are for bathtubs. Despite a thousand articles in Sunday newspaper real estate sections, the bubble is a myth. Talking about a bubble implies a sudden burst, and real estate does not work that way. You don't go to sleep one night with your house worth half a million dollars and wake up to find it's lost half its value.

Who is Kendra Todd: winner of Donald Trump's NBC show, "The Apprentice"; Broker of Florida-based The Kendra Todd Group, ex-host of the HGTV Show "My House Is Worth What?"; Author: "Risk and Grow Rich: How to Make Millions in Real Estate" (aka How to Make Millions in a Real Estate Bubble)

Some TAX deductions

Here are some of the more creative deductions allowed, according to sources at H&R Block and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and remember kids, don’t try this on your tax return without the supervision of a licensed professional.

Professional Losses

In 2007, the Tax Court ruled that Linda Myers could be considered a professional gambler and could therefore legally deduct all of her gambling losses (normally, the amount of gambling losses deducted cannot exceed the amount of winnings). Myers owned a trucking business where she worked 25-35 hours a week. But as a "professional gambler," she logged 40-60 hours per week in the casino playing slot machines and kept careful records of her hours and the amount of money she spent each day. She claimed she did not derive any enjoyment from gambling and considered it tiring work. The court ruled in her favor.

Deduction or Bust

If your body is your primary source of income--as it was for exotic dancer Cynthia Hess (also known as “Chesty Love”)--you might be entitled to deduct your “business expenses” or in this case, your breast implants. Hess successfully won her case against the IRS when the court ruled she could claim her size 56FF breast implants as a business expense because they could be viewed as a “stage prop.”

Claiming your Cat Food

In 2001, cat food was ruled as a business expense for Samuel and Carol Seawright, the owners of a scrap yard in Columbia, S.C. The Seawrights claimed the food was used to attract wild cats to keep snakes and rats away from their automobile salvage yard. The court agreed.

Music Really is Therapeutic

In 1962, a taxpayer was allowed to deduct the cost of a clarinet and clarinet lessons to correct a child’s “severe malocclusion” or overbite. The instrument was recommended as treatment by an orthodontist, thereby qualifying as a medical expense.

See Spot Move

Even the cost of moving your pet can be claimed as a moving expense. In 1966, the court decided the term "moving expenses" included the cost of moving a household pet.

Tax Breaks for Eating Organic

Before you go running to Whole Foods with this one, you'd better get a doctor’s note. In 1976, the Tax Court ruled that a taxpayer on a special, medically-required diet could deduct the cost differential between the cost of organic or chemical-free food and the cost of food that has been chemically treated, as a medical expense.

That's not what I would call a campaign booster...

NEW YORK -- Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has endorsed Republican Sen. John McCain for president, according to Reuters, which cited an interview in El Pais this Sunday. The Spanish newspaper also quoted Greenspan as saying that the U.S. economy has more than a 50% chance of going into recession, the news service said.

LINK

Globalwide inflation

Fears of unrest rise across Asia as rice price surges 30% in a day

Rice prices jumped 30 per cent to a record high yesterday, raising fears of fresh outbreaks of social unrest across Asia, where the grain is a staple food for more than 2.5bn people.Global rice stocks are at their lowest since 1976. While prices of wheat, corn and other agricultural commodities have surged since late 2006, the rice prices increase started in January.

Maricopa in the news

Mirage in the desert: LINK

That was fun ...

a security agent, an administrator and 3 police officers with drug dogs searching your classroom.

LINK TO article.

Home PICS Week 04

This will be our mailbox.

The construction yard.

This is the 1-car (third) for the same model we have bought. Try to fit an American car in that opening... We paid extra to have a 2-car (fourth) garage which widens the garage with 3.2 meter (11 feet).
To give you a better idea of the progress of the house I will take pictures from the same angle now. I have marked 5 spots and will take pics each week from these spots.

Streetside pic.
Part of our roof.
East side of our lot.
Lakeview.
West side view.
Entry.

One of the best songs of the 21st Century?

Pics of the week-end

Charlton Heston died today

I really loved Ben-Hur but this was by far his best performance.

Nationwide home sales down 25%YoY / Maricopa home sales UP 150%

I have a spreadsheet with all numbers for the Maricopa housingmarket (see below)

MARCH 08: Incredible jump in sales, big decline in inventory and days on the market.

blue: number of homes sold / month

pink: days home on the market (time it takes to sell home)

yellow: $ per sq ft

Numbers:

Midweek update home

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse

The banks are now PAYING homedebtors (aka homeowners) to vacate the premises. Amazing.

Quoteof the day

"I do not like the idea of the Fed getting involved (in bailouts like Bear Stearns). That is socialism"

Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., March 2008

Some good news from the Maricopa housingmarket

Phoenix March Home Sales Preview

There was one big surprise this month- there was a marked increase in sales in Queen Creek and Maricopa:
QC-Maricopa
Active 2,990

Sold 337 +68.8% YOY
8.8 months of inventory

The Oracle of the FED speaks: there will be a recession

OH PLEASE TELL US SOMETHING NEW, but for him it is new:

82 days ago: January 10/2008: "the Fed is not currently forecasting a recession"

April 2/2008: Bernanke said Wednesday that the American economy could contract in the first half of 2008

Repeat after me: I-n-C-o-m-p-e-t-e-n-t

Mid week Update Home construction

This is the daredevil of the community. It is the first family to moe in. They moved in a week ago. I like the 1 story home with courtyard.

This is the machine they use at our lot.

New pics, these were taken on Wednesday, the other pics were taken this Sunday. They work 6 days a week at our home.

Lakeside view, patio and deck.

Wall...

Entrance with portico.

Inside the home.

Front...

What happened in the bond market: the cartoon version

Quote of the day

"I think it was arrogance and incompetence that put this country in such a hole around the world."-

GOP Senator Chuck Hagel on the Bush Administration, March 2008

Toshi, the "hit by a car cat" story

ALERT! Our cat was hit by a car

Toshi our cat was hit by a car and was sent to the hospital. We'll keep you up to date.

The Bush WAR propaganda is working

Poll: Iran, Iraq, China Top US Enemies

China has replaced North Korea as one of the top three U.S. enemies, according to a poll of Americans.
Iran topped the list, with 25 percent naming it when asked which country is the greatest U.S. enemy, according to the Gallup Poll. Iraq came next at 22 percent, then China with 14 percent.

Can you believe that American people think that Iraq and Iran are the top enemies of the US?

Mind boggling.

Not one Iraqi has harmed a US citizen, not one Iranian has harmed a US citizen.

When you invade the place you can expect some challenges, that seems pretty normal to me. Why would any sane American think that Iran and Iraq are enemies? Inquiring minds want to know.

The United Kingdom thinks the US housing crash/mortgage mess will stop at their borders...

Are they stupid or ignorant? They don't know and they don't care. In 2009, we can put up a similar pic for the UK, one of the most expensive places in the world to buy a home. The housing crash will have an even bigger effect on them. (and Spain, Russia and Turkey)