Bid not accepted so we did a second better one, results in a few days.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
iPhone, you win some you lose some
Apple's iPhone is a hit everywhere in the world — except for Japan.
It turns out that Apple's video-playing, music-downloading, motion-sensing handset is just too, well, backward for the Japanese market.
In fact, the iPhone is such a flop in the Land of the Rising Sun that it's being given away free with a 2-year contract, Wired News reports.
Adding insult to injury is the fact that carrier charges are a lot cheaper in Japan than they are in the U.S., and Apple hasn't learned to compete.
Few Japanese want to pay $60 per month to use a phone that can't shoot video, receive TV signals or text-message photos.
"The pricing has been completely out of whack with market reality," one expert on the Japanese cell-phone market tells Wired News. "I think they [Apple and its partners overseas] are in the process of adjusting to local conditions."
LINK
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Home bid
I will sporadiously release information about our hidden gem.
The home we liked and that we just put a bid on was sold in 2006 the same day it was listed for 1.1 million $$$.
The good old days of easy credit ....
quote of the day
“Private equity company Blackstone Group LP (BX.N) CEO Stephen Schwarzman said on Tuesday that up to 45 percent of the world's wealth has been destroyed by the global credit crisis.” "Between 40 and 45 percent of the world's wealth has been destroyed in little less than a year and a half…” "This is absolutely unprecedented in our Lifetime."
Monday, March 23, 2009
Bidding on the new home
No bids on the new home as of today.
We will make a bid today and we'll probably know their answer/counteroffer by the end of the week.
Bidding wars are never good for the buyer.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Bid on lakeproperty
Our bid on the lakehome was apparently the 2nd best of the 3 bids.
No harm done, there are enough homes on the market :-)
At least I am not emotionally attached to a home, however my 2nd half ...
So we have been looking for other homes ... and I think we have found the most amazing home that fits our needs, dreams and whatever you can think of.
If it is still available we will make a(nother) serious offer on that home tomorrow. (serious offer = within 5-10% of list price)
I will not post any pictures before we have an answer on the offer because we don't want anyone else to find our diamond in the rough...
We really WANT that $8000 tax credit from Obama!
Friday, March 20, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Update
They have 3 bids on the house so they send each "bidder" a fax in which they request to put in your "final and best" offer.
We have not changed our offer price, we gave them our best and final offer the first time as soon as we knew they already had a bid...
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
How is the bid on the house doing?
It takes a few days before the owner (Fannie Mae) answers on offers. We know there is another bid and our offer is hopefully higher than theirs.
Some people have no idea how home prices have REALLY imploded here. Our offer is close to the price the first owners paid for it in .... 1999, 10 years ago.
With a modest inflation of 4%, that is a loss of at least 60% in 10 years.
To be continued ...
Monday, March 16, 2009
Quote of the day
NO KIDDING:
He now even admits it ON National TV:
"It's not tax money. The banks have accounts with the Fed, much the same way that you have an account in a commercial bank. So, to lend to a bank, we simply use the computer to mark up the size of the account that they have with the Fed."
"It's much more akin to printing money than it is to borrowing"
Helicopter Ben Bernanke, March 16, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Naomi's finger
Friday I had a meeting with my broker. I got a phone call from Lisa and apparently Naomi had smashed her finger in between a wooden sliding door.
Her finger looked really weird, there was some meat sticking out (about 4mm). The door had smashed her finger so hard that meat from inside her finger had "exploded" out of her finger. An ugly site, especially if you are the parent.
We went to the only "urgent care center" in Maricopa and arrived at about 4:40. There were 8 people before us and they had no intention on treating us before the other patients. So I started to complain that my daughter was realy hurt and that she was going to faint. They checked if that was the case but her bloodpressure was normal. Normally they would let the other people go before us but at that time Lisa was being so friendly to the male nurse that we were treated before anyone else.
2 PA's (physian's assistent) looked at her but could not make up their mind. They thought of just "bandaging" it up and leave it like that. When I told them (it could also be "demanded them" but hey that is subjective)they couldn't do that and that it had to be cut, they took pictures with their cell and send it to the doctor who was in the office 25 miles down the road in Casa Grande. After the doctor looked at it they wanted to take an X-ray because they feared that some of the "sticking out parts were bone fragments", but their X-ray machine was not working so they send us to another hospital / ER department in Gilbert.
This hospital is located about 40 minutes from Maricopa. We arrived there at around 7pm, they took the X-ray of her finger + extra alien finger part and they decided to cut the meat away and saw it back together. They only came to this conclusion after they brought in an EMT doctor at 9:45 pm. (those are the doctors that go in the ambulance when there is a sever accident) So after about 300 minutes after the accident we saw the first real doctor appear...
Naomi has a metal thing around her finger and she takes antibiotics to reduce the chance of an infection.
This was the first time that we thought of moving back to Belgium. Living in a city that is at least 25 minutes from a hospital or doctor is extremely dangerous. If something would happen to us 20 minutes can make the difference between life and death. We are now planning of moving away from Maricopa, closer or in civilization where a doctor and ER are near.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Quote of the day
"The people that behaved well are no doubt going to find themselves taking care of the people who didn't behave well,"
Buffett
LINK
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Earmarks, the politician's game
ear·mark [ r mrk ]
transitive verb (past and past participle ear·marked, present participle ear·mark·ing, 3rd person present singular ear·marks)
Definition:
1. designate something for particular purpose: to select and reserve something to be used for a particular purposeThat money's already been earmarked for upgrading the computer system.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Quote of the day
"I still believe that there could be riots. Most will be small, but I think there is a chance that we can see some large ones"
US Senator Jim DeMint
I think the politicians are preparing us for the inevitable...
Friday, March 6, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
While the State of Arizona had to cut 892 000 000 dollars
from the State budget, the Federal Government keeps throwing money in the moneyholes: General Motors, Citigroup and Bank of America.
The USA is owned by corporate America.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Quote of the day
It's better to let AIG Fail, than continue saving them at the risk of the US Government Failing.
Jim Rogers
So, now everyone in the USA is in the process of negotiating a lower mortgage
Will the banks during the next real estate boom be able to "modify" those loans upward?
Monday, March 2, 2009
Mass layoffs February Update
Date - Company - Total Laid Off - Industry
2/27/2009 Weyerhaeuser 73 Materials
2/26/2009 Chesapeake Energy 215 Oil & Gas Operations
2/26/2009 JPMorgan Chase 14,000 Banking
2/25/2009 Dow Chemical, Corning 800 Joint Venture
2/25/2009 Coach 150 Household
2/24/2009 Micron Technology 2,000 Semiconductors
2/19/2009 Avon Products 3,000 Household
2/19/2009 U.S. Steel 5,205 Materials
2/19/2009 Forturne Brands 236 Consumer Durables
2/18/2009 Chevron 230 Oil and gas
2/18/2009 Delta Air Lines 2,100 Transportation
2/18/2009 Best Buy 540 Retailing
2/18/2009 Goodyear 5,000 Consumer Durables
2/17/2009 Agilent Technologies 600 Technology
2/17/2009 MDU Resources 130 Utilities
2/17/2009 General Motors 66,758 Consumer Durables
2/17/2009 Johnson Controls 205 Consumer Durables
2/17/2009 Smithfield Foods 1,800 Food
2/16/2009 Delphi 800 Consumer Durables
2/13/2009 TRW Automotive Holdings 375 Consumer Durables
2/13/2009 Wal-Mart Stores 1,200 Retailing
2/11/2009 United Technologies 1,350 Conglomerates
2/11/2009 W.W. Grainger 400 Capital Goods
2/11/2009 Caterpillar 24,924 Capital Goods
2/11/2009 Terex 5,000 Capital Goods
2/10/2009 News Corp. 90 Media
2/10/2009 U.S. Airways Group 233 Transportation
2/10/2009 Nike 1,400 Products
2/10/2009 General Electric 3,050 Conglomerates
2/9/2009 Emerson Electric 14,000 Conglomerates
2/6/2009 Weyerhaeuser 300 Materials
2/5/2009 Estée Lauder 2,000 Personal Products
2/5/2009 Allergan 460 Pharmaceuticals
2/4/2009 Time Warner 2,750 Media
2/4/2009 Cisco Systems 2,000 Technology
2/3/2009 Bancshares 500 Banking
2/3/2009 Electronic Arts 1,100 Software
2/3/2009 PNC Financial Services 5,800 Banking
2/3/2009 Comcast 50 Media
2/2/2009 Goodrich 35 Aerospace
2/2/2009 Macy's 7,000 Retailing
Civil unrest, food riots, rage ... it's all coming our way soon
The DOW fell through the 7300 floor
Next support for the DOW, the abyss: 4000
10 y DOW chart (1/100 ratio)
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Obama ends the Bush censorship
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has lifted the Pentagon's ban on media coverage of the flag-draped caskets of America's war dead returning to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, leaving it up to each family to decide whether it wants media coverage.
Gates Lifts Dover Ban
Pentagon Lifts Ban on Media Photographing Caskets of the War Dead
One madman has destroyed the lives of at least 4000 young Americans. Now his legacy is destroying the rest of the world's prosperity.
A veterinary looked at "Fortis"
He is in perfect condition, the only problem: he is as deaf as Bush is for a good proposal. Apparently that is very common with white cats. It takes some time to get him socialized with our other cats but we are seeing some progress.
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