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jacereviews · 5 years

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Review: Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam

Television (Anime) Consumed in: English Sub Note: This review covers only the 50 episodes of TV Zeta, not A New Translation. For the sake of discussion I will have to cover the plot of Gundam 0079.

March 2nd, 1985 the second series of Gundam made its debut, Zeta Gundam. While the 0079 movies may have put Gundam on the map, it’s Zeta you still hear people discussing to this day. Revered by many as a classic, and one of the best mecha anime of the 80s, Zeta’s a big name, but does it hold up to it? Let’s rock.

PLOT: Universal Century 0087, the One-Year War between the Earth Federation and Zeon is long over, however peace is not to be had. In response to the remnants of Zeon, the federation has created a police-like military organization called the Titans to control Zeon and other spacenoid groups to prevent them from uprising and resisting the Federation’s control. To do this the Titans have been given borderline free reign to do whatever they see fit to do their job, no matter how atrocious it may be. In response to the unchecked reign of the titans, a resistance group called the Anti-Earth Union Group (or simply AEUG) has risen up to fight back. During an AEUG mission led the mysterious blonde pilot who always covers his eyes and his past named Quattro Bajeena to the colony Green Noa, a young man called Kamille Bidan steals a prototype Gundam Mk. II belonging to the Titans. The two cross paths and Kamille ultimately ends up joining Quattro on the Argama as it sails out to fight the Titans. From the get-go we have a story both similar and dissimilar to the prior series. Once again we have a young man piloting a Gundam on a white ship as it battles enemies, but instead of being a traditional soldier, we’re now following a rebellion. It takes awhile for the plot to get truly moving, but when it goes it goes. The Titans are a hateable cast of villains, unlike the Zeon of the first series the Titans are mostly irredeemable. The Titan cast is likeable at best and cartoonishly evil at worst. There was never a Ramba Ral style villain where it felt like that without the war they’d be our friend. As it goes on the plot gets more and more interesting with webs of betrayals, cyber-newtypes, and even the remnants of Zeon. Especially of note is the ending of Zeta, which without going into detail, is both narratively satisfying, thematically resonant, and quite shocking for a series aimed at young audiences. Very few series have an ending that really make me sit back and consider it like Zeta’s and that’s a good thing for Zeta. However the story is not without its flaws. The first 10 episodes can be kind of a drag, and the once again episodic format can lead to some weak and borderline filler episodes. I feel the series could’ve shaved off 10 episodes and be better for it. The biggest problem I had with Zeta however, is the amount of things that happen off-screen and details the series feels like it doesn’t need to give to the audience. Many a times I found myself confused or questioning stuff and just had to concluding that some change happened off-screen. Characters swap ships on both sides with little notice, and operations fly by with people hardly mentioning it. It made the whole experience way less cohesive. The series also had a few cases of trying to emulate the original series for no good reason, such as bringing kids on board the Argama half-way through. It made sense for the White Base to have kids but the Argama really didn’t need them and it just felt like poor decision making. However by the end I felt that the pluses far outshine the negatives and ultimately lead to this series being one hell of a ride.

8/10, it’s good, messy, but good. Ending earns a whole point on its own.

CHARACTERS: Let’s start with Kamille Bidan himself. Kamille starts off as an obnoxious brat, a lot of my early enjoyment was seeing people beat the shit out of him, but he honestly grew on me, and by the end he’d gone through quite the character arc. He’s a good mc, but takes a damn long time to become that. Luckily he’s not alone. Let’s discuss the overly familiar looking Quattro Bajeena, doesn’t that scar look familiar? Might he be the Red Comet of Zeon? No he can’t be... But he is definitely a highlight of the series. The audience is invested in him from the get-go, and throughout the series we see him mentoring Kamille and doing some amazing stuff in his own right. He’s only human and has his flaws too, but whatever flaws they may be are something you forget when you see his speech during the Day of Dakar. Zeta’s also notable (by the audience and Kamille) for its sizeable female cast. Emma, Reccoa, and Fa Yuriy are all notable female characters put in powerful roles. Even if Reccoa’s later arc may inspire some ire from viewers they’re all great characters with their own interesting arcs. Another thing I’ve got to give Zeta a lot of credit is for how it used the returning characters from the first series. My boy Bright Noa shows up in episode 1, and many of the White Base members make some kind of reappearance (not really a spoiler because it’s in the opening). We get to see how they’ve lived their lives since the events of 0079, and they have many interesting scenes without it ever feeling like the series is too dependent on them (save for Bright). The problem I had with Zeta characters, is a lot of them act out and act irrationally. Now this isn’t necessarily bad character writing, but when someone acts out and takes a mech, does something stupid with it, and the next day is piloting a mech again it raises a few eyebrows. It can also get obnoxious with how many characters are being overly emotional twats, but I never found any of the Argama crew to be entirely irredeemable idiots. They were just flawed people in a stressful situation. The Titans on the other hand had what I felt to be a relatively lacking cast. While the character of Jerid and his varied love interests were all likeable, with Jerid himself being a standout likeable douche, aside from Jerid they didn’t get character arcs. Otherwise like Titans consisted of pitiable cyber-newtypes, hand-rubbing schemers, and straight up assholes. Aside from the cyber-newtypes none were very redeemable. The cyber-newtype Murasame Four was notable but limited by her limited screen time. They tried to make Paptimus Scirroco into a new Char, but he just felt way less interesting than Zeon’s red comet. The ultimate leader of the Titans, Jamitov, was just a bog standard evil politician. All in all only Jerid and Four were interesting characters, and only Jerid lived up to much potential. While you didn’t have any Garmas or Ramba Rals to make the war seem like a curse causing good people to die on either side, the Titans did fill the role of hateable villain well. Without going into too much detail, I do want to give a shoutout to Haman Karn. She was a rather engaging character but pretty much everything about her involves spoilers.

8/10, a lot of good characters, a lot of hateable villains, but most of the best characters are repeats from 0079.

VISUALS: Now probably the biggest improvement from 0079 is the animation. The noticeable errors of 0079 are gone, replaced with some truly gorgeous and fluid animation. Zeta has a lot of sakuga packing, and when it wants to move well it damn does. However when it doesn’t care it’ll freely use a lot of cheap tricks that the skilled eye will notice, but what doesn’t? The actual art of the series I’m less in love with. There were less moments of truly interesting visuals than 0079, but being okay is okay. The character designs were mostly fine, with a few (Jamaican in particular) being very dull. The mecha design is a mixed bag with me. The designs feel way less varied than 0079, with a lot of mechs feeling like the same skeleton with different overly ornate decorations. As cool as they looked I found myself just shaking my head and saying “Really?” at some of the more over-ornate designs. However the thing that bugged me the most was the Titans using Zeon-esque mechs. Being part of the Earth Federation you’d assume they’d use Federation mechs, but instead they use mechs designed like their original enemies. This didn’t make much sense outside of the meta-reasoning “Villain mechs in Gundam need the domed one-eye design.” However everything I’m saying is simply nitpicks.

7/10, at worst we have functional art that suspends disbelief, at best we have gorgeous animation.

AUDIO: In all honesty, I don’t remember much of Zeta’s soundtrack which is an okay sign. What I do remember is pretty decent but nothing ever stuck out to me except the first opening. The first opening was a rather enjoyable song, the second was very mediocre. The ending theme for the whole time was entirely forgettable as you’re skipping to the next episode anyway. Sound design wise everything sounded fine and natural, despite sound effects in space. Voice acting was passable. Most of the voices fit well with no real stand out performances in my opinion. The voice of Bask Oum was notable for sounding overtly evil, so that was nice. However there were some voices that were not so great on minor characters. Every time the minor character Sydle talked I just wanted her to stop talking. Luckily she was incredibly minor.

6/10, functional with a demerit or two.

FINAL SCORE: 7/10

While not the perfect masterpiece many claim it to be, Zeta Gundam is something I’d personally recommend. With a powerful delivery of themes and a strong follow up to a good series, Zeta’s a fantastic watch. There’s a lot of great to be had here, though sadly the execution of the ideas is far from perfect. Held back by some bumps, Zeta nonetheless stands out as an excellent story animated quite well. The ending alone makes me want to raise the score even higher, but a show is more than it’s last five episodes. I now set out to continue my Gundam Quest with ZZ. I’ll probably get a lot of flack for rating the quintessential 80′s mecha so low, but don’t let a number understate how much I love this series.

#gundam #mobile suit gundam #mecha #classics #classic anime #anime #anime review #zeta gundam #kamille bidan

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mikebrackett · 5 years

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Mortgage Rates Continue to Fall – Market Update

This probably isn’t on the radar for many people this week, but Thursday marks the beginning of the most wonderful time of the year – baseball season. Everyone is expecting my Detroit Tigers to have another rebuilding year. Still, maybe it’s the prospect of eventual warm weather or the thought of ballpark hot dogs, but around this time of year, my hope always springs eternal.

The mood for investors was a little more mixed last week. Perhaps they need to see a little green grass themselves? Let’s jump into it.

Headline News

Housing Market Index

Home builder sentiment was unchanged for March at 62. This was a one-point miss from expectations. Unfortunately, buyers aren’t going through homes at the expected pace. This measurement went further into contraction going down four points to 44.

Current sales went up two points to 68, while sales expectations over the next six months were up three points to coming in at 71.

Turning to regional data, the South and West are driving many of the gains, at or near 70. Meanwhile, the Northeast and Midwest are essentially flat at around 50, which indicates neither growth or slowing in builder expectations.

MBA Mortgage Applications

Mortgage rates were at their lowest level since last year according to the survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association. They went down nine basis points from the week prior to come in at 4.55%.

All of this has had a beneficial effect on applications, which were up 1.6% week over week. Purchase applications were up 0.3%, but the big gains were in the refinance category where there was a 4% increase in applications.

Jobless Claims

Initial jobless claims were down by 9,000 last week to come in at 221,000. Meanwhile, the four-week average rose just slightly, up 1,000 to 225,000.

On the continuing claims side, these were down 27,000 to 1.75 million. The four-week average was up only 6,000 to come in at about 1.773 million.

Existing Home Sales

Sales of existing homes were up 11.8% in February to a seasonally adjusted annualized pace of 5.51 million. Despite the rebound, this is still down 1.8% from where they were at this time last year.

Breaking the numbers out further, sales of single-family homes were up 13.3% to 4.94 million. Meanwhile, condo sales were unchanged at 570,000 on an annual basis.

Taking a look at supply, homes coming on the market increased by 2.5% to 1.63 million. However, due to the increased sales pace, the amount of supply on the market effectively decreased to 3.5 months at the current sales rate vs. 3.9 months in January. Meanwhile, the median price for an existing home was up slightly at $249,500 and has risen 3.6% on the year. Analysts say there may be room for this price to come down a bit given that sales are behind last year’s pace.

In regional data, sales in the West were up 16%, but they’re still down 7.9% on the year. It’s worth noting that part of the sales decrease in that region is being blamed on the wildfires that have hit the area. Sales in the South were up 14.9% on the month and the Midwest had a 9.5% gain.

Mortgage Rates

Mortgage rates continue to move in the right direction for consumers last week, but before we get there, let’s take this opportunity to briefly discuss the results of last week’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting and the impact on the mortgage market.

The Federal Reserve chose to leave short-term interest rates unchanged. Although not directly correlated with longer-term rates like mortgages, the two do tend to move together at least directionally. If one goes up or down, the other will likely follow.

Leaving short-term interest rates alone was an expected result of this meeting. What the market was really watching for was forward projections on future interest rate moves. They also got some insight on the balance sheet for the bank.

First, while this could always change on the basis of updated economic data, the Federal Reserve doesn’t plan on increasing interest rates for the remainder of the year. Additionally, they also indicated that it’s nearing time to stop divesting from its portfolio of assets that were picked up in order to try and stimulate the economy after the financial crisis of 2008 hit. The committee plans to continue to reinvest in U.S. treasuries and mortgage bonds beginning in October. While this gets a little complicated, this can all be good for mortgage rates because as more is invested in mortgage-backed securities (MBS), mortgage rates tend to fall because the rate of return doesn’t have to be as high to attract investors. Mortgage rates were very low for the past several years in part because the Fed was a big buyer of mortgage bonds.

For more analysis on this and the reasoning behind the Fed decision, check out our analysis of the Federal Reserve announcement from last week.

No one has a crystal ball to predict the future interest rates, but one thing’s for sure. Mortgage rates are the lowest they’ve been in some time. If you’re in the market, it’s a really good time to lock your rate.

Last week, the rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage according to Freddie Mac averaged 4.28% with 0.4 points paid in fees, down three basis points and falling from 4.45% last year.

In shorter terms, 15-year fixed mortgages averaged 3.71% with 0.4 points, falling five basis points on the week. It’s down from 3.91% a year ago.

Finally, the average rates on a 5-year treasury-indexed adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) was unchanged last week at 3.84%, with 0.3 points. This is up from 3.68% at this time last year.

Stock Market

The stock market didn’t react well to the Federal Reserve’s forecast of economic growth that was lower than previously expected. Combine that with increasing signs of global growth slowdown and it wasn’t a good Friday on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had a huge drop and the S&P 500 saw its worst day since January.

The Dow was down 460.19 points to 25,502.32, falling 1.34% on the week. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 finished Friday at 2,800.71, dropping 54.17 points on day and 0.77% weekly. Finally, the Nasdaq was down 0.6% on the week after falling 196.29 points on the day to close at 7,642.67.

The Week Ahead

Tuesday, March 26

Housing Starts (8:30 a.m. ET) – A housing start is registered when the construction of a new residential building begins. The start of construction is defined as the beginning of excavation of the foundation for the building.

S&P Case-Shiller HPI (9:00 a.m. ET) – The S&P Case-Shiller home price index tracks monthly changes in the value of residential real estate in 20 metropolitan regions across the U.S.

FHFA House Price Index (9:00 a.m. ET) – The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) House Price Index (HPI) covers single-family housing using data provided by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The HPI is derived from transactions involving conforming conventional mortgages purchased or securitized by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

Consumer Confidence (10:00 a.m. ET) – The Conference Board surveys consumers on their feelings about current and future business and employment conditions as well as their future spending plans.

Wednesday, March 27

MBA Mortgage Applications (7:00 a.m. ET) – The mortgage applications index measures applications to mortgage lenders. This is a leading indicator for single-family home sales and housing construction.

International Trade (8:30 a.m. ET) – International trade is composed of merchandise (tangible goods) and services. It’s available by export, import and trade balance for six principal end-use commodity categories and for more than 100 principal Standard International Trade Classification system commodity groupings.

Thursday, March 28

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (8:30 a.m. ET) – This release measures the monetary value of all final goods and services produced within the U.S. This report is released on a quarterly basis.

Jobless Claims (8:30 a.m. ET) – New unemployment claims are compiled weekly to show the number of individuals filing for unemployment insurance for the first time. An increasing trend suggests a deteriorating labor market. The 4-week moving average of new claims smooths out weekly volatility.

Pending Home Sales Index (10:00 a.m. ET) – The National Association of REALTORS® developed the Pending Home Sales Index as a leading indicator of housing activity. Specifically, it’s a leading indicator of existing home sales, not new home sales.

Friday, March 29

Personal Income and Outlays (8:30 a.m. ET) – This is a measurement of how much consumers are taking in as well as their corresponding spending. This also gives insight into how much is being saved.

Consumer Sentiment (10:00 a.m. ET) – The University of Michigan’s Consumer Survey Center questions 500 households each month on their financial conditions and attitudes about the economy. Consumer sentiment is directly related to the strength of consumer spending.

New Home Sales (10:00 a.m. ET) – This report measures the number of newly constructed homes with a committed sale during the month.

Plenty of big news coming out next week including a report on the growth of the economy in GDP and international trade as well as lots of home data. We’ll have it all covered in next week’s Market Update!

This isn’t the most interesting Monday afternoon reading, I’m sure. We have plenty of home, money and lifestyle content to share with you, so subscribe to the Zing Blog below. Tax Day is in a few weeks. If you’re still in the process of filing your return, here are some tips on protecting yourself from identity theft. Have a great week!

The post Mortgage Rates Continue to Fall – Market Update appeared first on ZING Blog by Quicken Loans.

from Updates About Loans https://www.quickenloans.com/blog/mortgage-rates-continue-fall-market-update

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aaronsniderus · 5 years

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Mortgage Rates Continue to Fall – Market Update

The mood for investors was a little more mixed last week. Perhaps they need to see a little green grass themselves? Let’s jump into it.

Headline News

Housing Market Index

Current sales went up two points to 68, while sales expectations over the next six months were up three points to coming in at 71.

MBA Mortgage Applications

Mortgage rates were at their lowest level since last year according to the survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association. They went down nine basis points from the week prior to come in at 4.55%.

Jobless Claims

Initial jobless claims were down by 9,000 last week to come in at 221,000. Meanwhile, the four-week average rose just slightly, up 1,000 to 225,000.

On the continuing claims side, these were down 27,000 to 1.75 million. The four-week average was up only 6,000 to come in at about 1.773 million.

Existing Home Sales

Sales of existing homes were up 11.8% in February to a seasonally adjusted annualized pace of 5.51 million. Despite the rebound, this is still down 1.8% from where they were at this time last year.

Breaking the numbers out further, sales of single-family homes were up 13.3% to 4.94 million. Meanwhile, condo sales were unchanged at 570,000 on an annual basis.

Mortgage Rates

For more analysis on this and the reasoning behind the Fed decision, check out our analysis of the Federal Reserve announcement from last week.

Last week, the rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage according to Freddie Mac averaged 4.28% with 0.4 points paid in fees, down three basis points and falling from 4.45% last year.

In shorter terms, 15-year fixed mortgages averaged 3.71% with 0.4 points, falling five basis points on the week. It’s down from 3.91% a year ago.

Finally, the average rates on a 5-year treasury-indexed adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) was unchanged last week at 3.84%, with 0.3 points. This is up from 3.68% at this time last year.

Stock Market

The Week Ahead

Tuesday, March 26

S&P Case-Shiller HPI (9:00 a.m. ET) – The S&P Case-Shiller home price index tracks monthly changes in the value of residential real estate in 20 metropolitan regions across the U.S.

Consumer Confidence (10:00 a.m. ET) – The Conference Board surveys consumers on their feelings about current and future business and employment conditions as well as their future spending plans.

Wednesday, March 27

Thursday, March 28

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (8:30 a.m. ET) – This release measures the monetary value of all final goods and services produced within the U.S. This report is released on a quarterly basis.

Friday, March 29

Personal Income and Outlays (8:30 a.m. ET) – This is a measurement of how much consumers are taking in as well as their corresponding spending. This also gives insight into how much is being saved.

New Home Sales (10:00 a.m. ET) – This report measures the number of newly constructed homes with a committed sale during the month.

The post Mortgage Rates Continue to Fall – Market Update appeared first on ZING Blog by Quicken Loans.

from Updates About Loans https://www.quickenloans.com/blog/mortgage-rates-continue-fall-market-update

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aaltjebarisca · 5 years

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Mortgage Rates Continue to Fall – Market Update

The mood for investors was a little more mixed last week. Perhaps they need to see a little green grass themselves? Let’s jump into it.

Headline News

Housing Market Index

Current sales went up two points to 68, while sales expectations over the next six months were up three points to coming in at 71.

MBA Mortgage Applications

Mortgage rates were at their lowest level since last year according to the survey from the Mortgage Bankers Association. They went down nine basis points from the week prior to come in at 4.55%.

Jobless Claims

Initial jobless claims were down by 9,000 last week to come in at 221,000. Meanwhile, the four-week average rose just slightly, up 1,000 to 225,000.

On the continuing claims side, these were down 27,000 to 1.75 million. The four-week average was up only 6,000 to come in at about 1.773 million.

Existing Home Sales

Sales of existing homes were up 11.8% in February to a seasonally adjusted annualized pace of 5.51 million. Despite the rebound, this is still down 1.8% from where they were at this time last year.

Breaking the numbers out further, sales of single-family homes were up 13.3% to 4.94 million. Meanwhile, condo sales were unchanged at 570,000 on an annual basis.

Mortgage Rates

For more analysis on this and the reasoning behind the Fed decision, check out our analysis of the Federal Reserve announcement from last week.

Last week, the rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage according to Freddie Mac averaged 4.28% with 0.4 points paid in fees, down three basis points and falling from 4.45% last year.

In shorter terms, 15-year fixed mortgages averaged 3.71% with 0.4 points, falling five basis points on the week. It’s down from 3.91% a year ago.

Finally, the average rates on a 5-year treasury-indexed adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) was unchanged last week at 3.84%, with 0.3 points. This is up from 3.68% at this time last year.

Stock Market

The Week Ahead

Tuesday, March 26

S&P Case-Shiller HPI (9:00 a.m. ET) – The S&P Case-Shiller home price index tracks monthly changes in the value of residential real estate in 20 metropolitan regions across the U.S.

Consumer Confidence (10:00 a.m. ET) – The Conference Board surveys consumers on their feelings about current and future business and employment conditions as well as their future spending plans.

Wednesday, March 27

Thursday, March 28

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (8:30 a.m. ET) – This release measures the monetary value of all final goods and services produced within the U.S. This report is released on a quarterly basis.

Friday, March 29

Personal Income and Outlays (8:30 a.m. ET) – This is a measurement of how much consumers are taking in as well as their corresponding spending. This also gives insight into how much is being saved.

New Home Sales (10:00 a.m. ET) – This report measures the number of newly constructed homes with a committed sale during the month.

The post Mortgage Rates Continue to Fall – Market Update appeared first on ZING Blog by Quicken Loans.

from Updates About Loans https://www.quickenloans.com/blog/mortgage-rates-continue-fall-market-update

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ronaldmrashid · 6 years

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It’s Time To Start Worrying About The Housing Market Again

Despite publishing cautionary posts about investing in the stocks, bonds, and alternatives at current levels, the biggest caution I should be writing about is taking out massive debt to buy property at record highs.

If you lose 50% on your stock and bond portfolio, you’ll be upset, but fine. If your property loses 20% of its value, however, this means you’ve lost 100% of your 20% downpayment. In this scenario, you’ll also probably still be fine – if you don’t have to sell. But when property prices correct by 20% or more, many people become forced sellers because they’ve also lost their jobs.

I understand that millennials are coming of buying age and inventory is on the decline, making competition for buying a home fierce. However, only if you are fully cognizant of the following points I’ve highlighted below should you proceed with a property purchase today.

Things To Know Before Buying Property in 2018

1) Rents have softened from peak levels in many of the most expensive cities. Given property prices are a function of rental income multiples, a real estate buyer should be looking to buy at similar pricing discounts from peak rental periods. For example, research whatever comparable New York property you want to buy today that was sold for in March 2016 and aim to buy at a 14.8% discount to the March 2016 price because that’s how much rent prices are down.

In 2017 I experienced softening rents first hand when I tried to find replacement tenants for my SF rental house at a similar rent of $9,000 a month. After 45 days of aggressive marketing, I only got two offers, both for $7,500 (-16.7%). I even hired a rental listing agent for two weeks to find people for at least $8,000 and he failed. As a result, I sold. Pricing pressure starts at the most expensive markets and works its way down. The large supply of condos in many expensive cities has really put a damper on rents and housing prices.

Buying at peak prices when rents have fallen from peak levels means you are paying a higher valuation. This is a dangerous scenario when prices are at record highs.

Rents in 12 of the most expensive markets as of January 2018

2) Mortgage rates are rising. With the surge in the 10-year bond yield to 2.85%, mortgage rates are following suit. My last mortgage refinance was in 2016 when I locked in a 5/1 Jumbo ARM at 2.5%. This same mortgage is now 3.58% based on the latest rates. In other words, if I were to take out the same mortgage today, my monthly payment goes from $3,951 to $4,535, a 14.8% increase. A 14.8% increase is significant because average income only increases by ~2% a year.

5/1 ARM Mortgage Rate Breaking Out

While 3.58% is still relatively low for a 5/1 ARM, everything is relative, especially since property prices in some cities have risen by double digits since 2012. If the average interest rate for the 5/1 ARM were to rise to recession levels 10 years ago, a $1,000,000 mortgage payment would go to $6,321, a whopping 60% increase.

10 year history of the 5/1 ARM mortgage rate

Here are the latest mortgage rate averages as of February 2018. You can check for a free quote hear with LendingTree, a stock I should have bought for under $100 a share when I first met up with senior management a couple years ago. TREE has tripled in price.

3) Prices have blown past their previous peaks in many cities. While every city is different, if you look at the prices in Denver and Dallas, you’ll find that the prices are roughly 45% higher than they were in 2006-2007. This price performance is similar to San Francisco’s. Meanwhile, hot cities like Seattle and Portland are only about 20% above previous peaks.

The US median existing home price is about 12% higher than its previous peak, which is a modest rise since over 10 years have passed. As a real estate investor, your goal is to invest in markets that have both underperformed and have the potential to catch up.

Do you think you should be selling or buying at these prices?

4) Tax reform takes time to negatively impact housing prices. Conceptually, we all know that limiting state income and property tax deductions to $10,000 and limiting mortgage interest deductions on new mortgages up to $750,000 are net negatives for expensive coastal city real estate markets. Until homeowners file their 2018 taxes in 2019, however, no financial pain will be felt.

Some will argue that lower income taxes will offset these deduction limitations. Perhaps. But nobody really knows for sure until 2019 tax returns are filed and accepted. Tax reform is a headwind, not a tailwind for coastal city property price appreciation.

5) It takes a while to recognize a peak. The housing boom that began in January 1996 ended in March 2006. But it wasn’t until the beginning of 2008 that people started to accept that the housing market had already peaked. Until 2008, property investors were still clinging to hope or at least were in denial that prices would no longer be going up. Once Bear Sterns was sold for nothing to JP Morgan in March 2009, people started to panic. Then Lehman Brothers went under on September 15, 2009, a full two and a half years after the housing market peaked. And things got even worse!

Below is a great chart that shows how badly housing prices corrected in some of our major cities. Notice how the previous boom lasted 10 years and the crash lasted 5 years. We’re now going into the 8th year of a bull market.

Keep Your Unbridled Enthusiasm For Housing In Check

The mass media and the real estate industry will focus on strong demand, strong job growth, and a dearth of inventory as drivers for higher property prices in 2018 and beyond. If you look at property nationwide as a whole, prices will probably continue to go up in the low single digits percentage-wise.

However, if you look at individual markets, you are beginning to see cracks in the foundation. I don’t recommend leveraging up to buy expensive coastal city real estate as an investment at this point in the cycle. Look to the heartland instead, where valuations are much cheaper and net rental yields are much higher.

If you’re dying to buy a primary residence today, make sure you can withstand a 20%+ correction over a five year time frame, if history is any guide. If you don’t have a financial buffer equal to at least 10% of the value of your property after putting down 20%+, then you are not financially prepared for a downturn.

Too much debt is really what will kill you if we ever return to hard times. Buy a house to enjoy life instead of looking to make a profit. I doubt we’ll have a correction as violent as the last one given lending standards became far tighter after the housing crisis. All the same, please buy and borrow responsibly.

Related: Buy Utility, Rent Luxury: The Real Estate Investing Rule To Follow

If you are buying property in this market, what are your reasons for buying? What are your reasons for not buying earlier? What are some bullish and bearish anecdotes you’ve observed in your respective property markets? When do you think the peak of the real estate cycle is? What are some worries you have about the property market?

https://www.financialsamurai.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Things-to-be-aware-about-before-buying-property.m4a

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daysoutwithbex · 6 years

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12 months of 2017

12 live shows seen 11 months of living in my little flat 10 kg of Nutella eaten 9 new albums bought 8 months of being in a fabulous choir 7 books read 6 holidays 5 kg of chocolates brought back from Zurich 4 afternoon teas 3 new countries visited 2 outdoor cinema trips 1 hell of a year.

It’s my annual round up of the year. Why? Because it seems I like to dwell on the past a lot; but I’m slowly learning that that is not always a bad thing, it’s how you look at and learn from the past that’s important. However, this year has been remarkably better than 2016, despite my brain telling me on most days that it’s a terrible day, week or month. Looking back, it hasn’t been half bad. I have rocks for friends.

As with every January, I celebrated my birthday with friends and lots of food. There was snow on my birthday - and everyone knows how I feel about snow. I’m quite vocal about it! However, trying to drive back from a meal in Mold was not as fun as one would anticipate in snow. But we had had a lovely meal and an amazing waffle, so not much could go wrong after that.

February was a month of celebrations too. A trip to Iceland where we saw the Northern Lights, albeit very briefly, LOTS of snow, a day in the Blue Lagoon, round trip to Gullfoss waterfall and a flat completion date set. My first concert of 2017 was in Iceland too, in the beautiful Harpa music hall. First of far too many (some might say!). All in the first four days of the month. Surely a good omen. My search for the best waffle, or at least one that beats Leeds markets ones, came to an end with a little van outside the Hallgrímskirkja church. The bar has risen! The last day of the holiday was World Nutella Day, so it was only appropriate to have a Nutella hot chocolate and take pictures of Nutella with some Nutella!

I’ve always had a ‘thing’ about the 10th of the month, as quite a bit seems to have happened on the 10th of a few months over the last few years. 2017 was no exception, when after six months of waiting, I FINALLY got the keys for my new flat that I could call my own. No more sleepovers and begging for a sofa/bed! And the dog could live there too, where she well and truly rules the roost! I got to decorate (my decorating goes as far as pinning pictures up on the wall) exactly how I wanted to and don’t have to worry about blu tack marks or having to fill in holes from nails or screws (which I always do very professionally, I might add)! Also, I finally had space for a music room which was essential.

We won’t get in to the Six Nations!

My first theatre show of the year was Grease in March. It was also an excuse for a catch up, more food and the most amazing cakes and cheesecake I have ever eaten. I started making marmalade, purely because I could, and had jars of the stuff for months. Luckily that fad didn’t last long and space in my fridge was once more. I started looking after plants and they are still alive; bar one. They are cacti and require minimal attention, but they are hanging on in there and growing well!

I started reading the most inspiring of the books I read this year; “Mad Girl” by Bryony Gordon. It’s an insightful and honest account of living with mental illness. It’s reassuring, honest and witty and makes anyone realise that there is no such thing as normal. It’s far too easy to compare life to everyone else’s and think that you are not “normal”. I’m not normal anyway, and by everyone else’s (I shouldn’t tar everyone with the same brush - a lot of people’s) standards, I would get sod all done if I was!

In April, I bought Nutella a fluorescent raincoat, and she was not a happy bunny! I think she instinctively knew that she looked a bit silly, but there was no way the flat was smelling of wet dog, so silly she may look! Brad Paisley released his best album to date and I have a prized autographed edition to add to my collection. Another theatre show in Manchester at the Palace Theatre to watch Wonderland. An obligatory afternoon tea date in the Townhouse Hotel too made a lovely day.

My favourite new creation was a volcano pizza, which I encouraged and made Dad make beginning of May. I also took advantage of my youthful appearance when the election came around and canvassers needed to speak to the homeowner. Seeing as “my parents are at work” and they assumed I was “at school”, I couldn’t help them, so I had a lovely quiet evening! After a lot of planning, I finally got to show up as a belated birthday present for Emerlee in Gran Canaria (whether she liked it or not; sorry!), but I think Adam and I did well to keep it quite for so long. I also got a little bit of sun and a lot of sunburn including a permanent hand print shaped burn on my leg to prove that I had been there - still visible! To finish off the month, another theatre show; Sister Act, but this time, in Llandudno.

June was the eventful Ikea-trip day, when I bought ready assembled shelves because they were so much cheaper, but didn’t factor in that my flat is significantly smaller than a bloomin’ showroom! Luckily, with four heads thinking, there is always a solution and they live happily ever after in the music room and will never ever leave! I bought the dog some stylish Converse - again, she hates them, but I have some beautiful pictures! I also had a meltdown and a right rant at the Guardian, which was entertaining to say the least. Nothing resolved, but I won’t regret not speaking up, at least?!

As with most months gone by, July brought a new show; Annie in Piccadilly Theatre, London with Miranda Hart starring. Literally nothing that could go wrong there! Also managed to squeeze a couple of visits to Criccieth, and shamefully haven’t been back since. I got to celebrate a special birthday and celebrated World Chocolate Day - of course. I also met Prince Charles at work. As you do.

Then August was here, and it was great! It started with Friends Fest. What’s not to love there? And the following day I set of to Zurich, where I had the most amazing holiday and also got to have a quick trip over to Vaduz, Liechtenstein. Ate far too much cheese and chocolate and came home with no less than 5kg of chocolates.

There was a couple of visits to the outdoor cinema, first to see Moana with my “adoptive family”! - I have never ever laughed so much in a film that isn’t a comedy, but everyone was wearing earmuffs, so it was fine! Then we went to see Fantastic Beasts and I made the major error of taking the dog. A nuisance to say the least. She tried to pull to eat people’s pizzas, wouldn’t stop whining and ate the people next to us’s packet of turkey slices. One woman looked Nutella in the eye and ‘shushed’, which didn’t make a blind bit of difference BECAUSE SHE’S A DOG. She’s staying home next year. The dog, not the woman.

I took another trip to Manchester to see Maddie & Tae in the Ritz, and they were fantastic. Though the countdown to their next album is killing me! I finished off the month in Hickory’s and a stomach full.

Mam and Dad went on holiday in September so I had two dogs under my supervision, and I got to go ten pin bowling with John. We celebrated his 22nd birthday and had a lot of food, again! We managed to escape the escape rooms in Chester with barely seconds to spare (I’m sure TMO would say we did not succeed!) I also went to a jungle birthday party, ate a lot of cake and had a lot of fun. We even had a karaoke session in the car, though I think the whole of North Wales would have heard the speakers and Little Mix booming - I was not in charge of the music, I hasten to add!

The boring part of the month was buying a new fridge freezer and in October it was delivered. Being an adult is great. Back to what I live for - I saw Little Big Town in Bristol on the 3rd and Lady Antebellum, with Kelsea Ballerini opening in Manchester on the 4th of October. I caught a guitar pick at LBT which is now sitting pretty with my Lady Antebllum and Band Perry picks, and I managed to high five Charles Kelley of Lady A when he was walking through the crowds. October was off to a fantastic start.

The next trip, a couple of weeks later was with choir down to London. I obviously took advantage of the situation and made a weekend of it. I saw Les Mis, Wicked and Lion King in succession. Also this month, one of my neighbours tried to give a fish away.

My final concert of the year was in November when I went back down to Bristol to see Maren Morris. A quick look in the Bristol markets to get some churros was mandatory too. The next concert we go to and don’t get to the front to lean on the security bar will be a massive disappointment, as I genuinely cannot remember the last concert I was not with perfect view with not a head in front of me! I finished off the month the same way I started December - with choir. Two very different, but very fun gatherings. Both involving food, so that is always a winner for me.

There was a lot of snow for a short period of time, but I am proud to say that Nutella is just as excited as me about it, although I did not care for her whining and longing stares out the window at the flurrying outside. We had a fabulous time at Robert’s 50th surprise, which was pulled off spectacularly. But we won’t speak of what happened after!

Pentatonix did another Christmas special, and it is the only thing that makes me feel Christmassy ever! Which leads on nicely to my spur of the moment holiday arrangement. I am far too excited to be going to see Kirstie Maldonado, of Pentatonix, on Broadway in March. I will cry.

I managed to nail next year’s Christmas card picture, so you can all wait with baited breath for next year’s masterpiece!

The final few weeks of the year, I caught up with my favourite family, ate a lot, laughed a lot and will be watching closing out the year watching The Greatest Showman tomorrow.

Looking back, especially at the good times, is always nice. As part of a management programme, a recommendation I’ve been given is to take a photo a day of anything that makes me smile, so I’m going to try and see how it goes and if it makes a difference. Keeping a diary didn’t last very long this year, but a heck of a lot of pictures has built this essay and a half!

Now I’m off to plan my Copenhagen and New York trips as they’ll soon be here.

If you’ve read this far, bravo! And a forewarning, a photo a day in 2018 means you’re all in trouble!

Life in lyrics: “It doesn't matter if your days are long, It doesn't matter if your night's gone wrong, Just grab your hands and stomp your feet and sing it” (Sing, Pentatonix)

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