While on a recent trip to New York, my wife helped to lessen the distance between me, her and Harper by having Harper, our very own "Seasame Street Bureau Chief" go on assignment to report on his day-to-day activities.
I missed them so much.
Recently in Family Category
As I sit in the sidelines of the Bay Area Real Estate market, beleaguered, exhausted and frustrated by the fact that even when the market turns to shit, Arin and I still can't seem to afford a house, I watch with great interest (no pun intended) to the news about the nation's growing mortgage crisis.
What strikes me though about the coverage is how singularly focused it is upon the financial institutions behind the crisis. Little attention is paid to other possible contributing factors - such as an environment in which buyers are rushed to buy, in which buyers are compelled to make the most significant and largest purchasing decision of their entire life in less time than I typically spend deliberating about whether I will buy the marble bread or the banana nut bread at Peet's every morning.
Of course I can't speak for the rest of the country, but I can speak with some degree of authority for the Bay Area where I live, and where we have been engaged in the process of looking for a house for over three years now.
"There were 258 foreclosures in the Bay Area in the second quarter of 2006. That number spiked to 2,206 in the second quarter of 2007. That's a 755 percent jump, according to DataQuick."
The Bay Area market and the rate of foreclosures it has seen could be an anomaly, or it could be an indicator of a larger problem.
The scariest thing about the process of buying a house here is not the financing -- at least for Arin and I. What we have the hardest time with is the amount of time we are given to make our decision to buy. I can't tell you how many times Arin and I had this conversation with an agent on a Sunday afternoon open house...
Byrne (to Arin): "I think I could like this place."
Arin: "It pushes our budget a little bit, and it is far from perfect. But you are right, it is nice."
Byrne (to the Realtor): "Cute house. So, when are you hearing offers?"
Realtor: The day after tomorrow at 1pm.
For every house we have looked at, Arin and I would be required to take out the largest loan of our lives. We stare at spreadsheets for hours trying to project how on earth we will make it work, and the resulting pressure we feel to reduce our monthly mortgage payment is immense. Plus, the pressure we feel to raise our offer price is even greater -- because after three years, you just get tired of getting beaten out by higher offers. You just want your damn house already.
Finally, combine those pressures with the fact that Arin and I have less then 48 hours on average to put together an offer, and you see how so many people in the Bay Area found themselves in a load they could not sustain.
Now this is the situation that Arin and I face every single time we walk into a house we like. Every. Single. Time.
So if anyone wants to try to rationalize how the Bay Area could be hit so hard by this crisis, don't just look at the banks, look at a market climate that forces buyers into making really, really bad decisions.
About eight months ago when Harper was born I got a surprise package in the mail from a friend, and ever since I have been waiting for the chance for Harper to be big enough to wear it. He finally is. Thank you Tim.
I simply couldn't resist wearing the [very meta] t-shirt that Debi and Steve got me for Christmas.
The planners of NaBloPoMo did not exercise very much fore-thought when picking their month - I mean if most people are indeed lucky, they will be nowhere near an Internet connection over the Thanksgiving weekend - as I was for the last four days.
And no - I did not schedule any posts to appear during that time. Wouldn't that be cheating anyways?
But the family has returned and there are now photos available for everyone to gawk at. In this post, I feature some of the nature photographs taken from the weekend. If you are so inclined you can view the entire photo album as well.
Continue reading Back from Shaver Lake.
Two months ago I learned that two of my most favorite people, and two people that for a long time have been advocates and leaders in our neighborhood and block, would be moving. Not far, but far enough. They approached me to act as Captain of the Neighborhood Watch association. I agreed. Can you guess what the first thing I did was? Why register a domain name and setup a blog for the neighborhood. Of course.
There I let neighbors know what is going on in the neighborhood. I alert them to crime in the area, and help rally them to support various causes.
This week's cause? 484 Cheney. A house that is a blight on the neighborhood, with an owner that has shown contempt for his neighbors and the City of Oakland.
Family and grandparents, and anyone else anxiously following news about Little Harper, you can find all the latest photos of the family in majordojo's photo albums.
