I'm sure this makes you angry, since you are one of the outsiders who
bought high-priced land less than a stone's throw from Bugsquat.


Maxprop wrote:
Angry? Surely you jest. I bought when Bugsquat was cheap. It ain't any
more.


No, you bought land in a swamp that overpriced (or would be,
in the absence of aggressive marketing) five years before
you bought it.

As long as there is a flood of rich retirees with loads of
cash keep believing the advertising, there will be a demand
and prices will keep going up.



.... No one is talking generalities here, so
save the homespun economics lesson for your neighborhood kids. Bore
them, not us.


And what is the trend for local wages over the same period, hmm? What is
the overall cost of living relative to other areas?


Chicago--wages haven't come close to staying up with RE values. Income has,
for certain groups of people, however, mostly entrepreneurs.

In other words, a big shift of income distribution that
hides the decline in overall real income?


Cost of living
(exclusive of home ownership/renting) has remained relatively on par with
the rest of the country. The cost of living index is only a few tenths of a
point higher on average in Chicago than it is in South Bend, IN, with
shelter costs removed from the equation. Add shelter expense and it's a
whole different story.


Makes sense to me.



As long as it is a desirable place to live, real estate will do well. When
does that trend reverse?


I think I asked first, since you implied that RE did not always sustain an
upward trend over the long haul.


You yourself have pointed out the oil-rush towns that are
dead. Add to that the Dust Bowl towns, the gold rush towns,
waterfront in Port Royal, etc etc. Isolated examples, true,
but it doesn't help the people who paid for that land and
had it turn worthless on them.

Human natu If it happens to someone else, it's a minor
fluctuation in the overal trend. If it happens to you, it's
an economic crisis.



NC is doing relatively well--I'm well aware of that, being a land owner
there and keeping up with such matters. But there is a dichotomy of
substantial proportions between the highly prosperous urban areas, such as
Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte, etc. and the outlying rural areas where poverty
is and has been continuous for decades.

Don't know much about tobacco farming do you? Drive around
out in the country and see who has nice brick houses with
fancy toys in the yard.



... Subtract the urban factor and you
have a typically impoverished deep south state.

Really? You ignore the pharmeceutical & computer industries
stake, the financial development in Charlotte, etc etc.

The economy in NC is a good example of pretty smart
development, most ways.


... As for us tidewater (we
prefer that to swamp land, thank you kindly) types, we're crying all the way
to the bank.


Good. We wouldn't you to become one of the impoverished
rural types.


LOL. We're definitely not on the same page here.

Yep. Apparently you can't follow a chain of logic that far.
Sorry.




Of course it's happening elsewhere, but not anywhere near the same rate as
in the places mentioned. My property in Oriental has tripled in value since
Jan. '04.

Uh huh.
And you expect it to keep rising at that rate for how long?

What local economic development supports that high price?
What are average incomes in the area?


.... And for the record, Oriental is hardly swamp
land. The Neuse River has deposited soil at its mouth for centuries.

Who told you that? Where they laughing?



..... Next you're going to tell me that
someone is planning to backfill the sound to create more development land
all the way to the barrier islands (Outer Banks, for those who are curious).

Can't do that, then they couldn't advertise Oriental as "the
Sailing Capital of NC."


I think you're envious of those of us who bought when the prices were
reasonable.

Get real. I've owned land in the New Bern area and down the
county (not in downtown Oriental but close) for almost 25
years. It's gone up, and I expect to see it go down.




... Or perhaps your a xenophobe who hates any outsiders moving to
his precious state. Get over it.


Back to that again, eh?


... But as long as you raised the point, can you show me that the Dow
Jones Industrials average is lower now than, say 20 years ago? Or 50
years.

Easy enough to look it up. There have been long periods when the stock
marcket indexes were flat or downward.


Doug--you really need to learn to comprehend what you read.

???

I guess this is the sort of Jaxxian statement you can fall
back on when you've contradicted yourself multiple times and
been flat wrong the rest of the time (except for the part
about cycles).



...I'll ask again--show me any state where RE values are lower
today than 20 or 50 years ago. Same with the Dow.


Ahem, you said yourself that there were places land was
worth only 10% what it used to be.

As for the Dow, it's artificially manipulated to make it
look like it is going up when it really isn't. But you can
look at a graph of the S&P and find places where it is
flat... or drops cyclically to point below... over ten or
fifteen years. 20 or 50 years? Probably that would fall
pretty close to the all-time historical average of 12%
annual... which is one reason why I invest in the stock market.



You have missed the point. Is the value higher or lower *relative to
what*?


You've lost this argument, haven't you. You're grasping at straws.

Umm, no. I'm repeating a point you have repeatedly missed.

And you called me a Nazi, which means you've officially lost
anyway. I'm just carrying on with this discussion because
I'm a good sport.




Thanks, but I suspect we'll do fine without your titles. We all seem to be
able to identify the obvious.


???
Actually I would say that's one of your problems.

DSK