Bela Fleck, the Flecktones and the Seattle Symphony
Great show - very smart music.
Also - it's like NPR's audience was all in one place at the same time. Very eclectic mix of people.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Travels
Interesting notes from the weekend - first weekend completely out of town since the move.
- Washington has a pretty if quiet state capitol (Olympia) - the requisite large stone building surrounded by a large city park - neat main street with small coffee shops.
- Dancing Goats coffee gives away the burlap coffee bags in which their beans arrive in exchange for a $1 donation to a local childrens' charity - we thought that was neat and now have a huge burlap sack - will be useful for protecting the trunk of the car when carrying home potting soil and such this weekend.
- Portland is a neat place - same general northwest-y character as Seattle - very eco-conscious, walkable, pro independent business, pro local food - just on what feels to be about half the scale of Seattle. It also is much cleaner and better organized for the difference in scale. Also - their Pearl District is a great example of new urbanist planning and execution in the US. Not only for the design but the fact that it's all about the same age, less than 10 years old in this case - props to their urban planning department for being able to completely level and redevelop a whole city (warehouse) district in such a short time. For that reason though it looks very similar to the post WW2 districts in Germany - 6-10 story flats with shops at street level. Hopefully it ages as well as those have. My current neighborhood in Seattle could learn a lot from their example.
- Gosser beer - find it at Clyde Common in downtown Portland - only place I've yet found it. It's one of the major Austrian brews. Tasty.
- Best recent music find - Helio Sequence - Keep Your Eyes Ahead album - interesting sound, and surprisingly upbeat for music from this region.
- Washington has a pretty if quiet state capitol (Olympia) - the requisite large stone building surrounded by a large city park - neat main street with small coffee shops.
- Dancing Goats coffee gives away the burlap coffee bags in which their beans arrive in exchange for a $1 donation to a local childrens' charity - we thought that was neat and now have a huge burlap sack - will be useful for protecting the trunk of the car when carrying home potting soil and such this weekend.
- Portland is a neat place - same general northwest-y character as Seattle - very eco-conscious, walkable, pro independent business, pro local food - just on what feels to be about half the scale of Seattle. It also is much cleaner and better organized for the difference in scale. Also - their Pearl District is a great example of new urbanist planning and execution in the US. Not only for the design but the fact that it's all about the same age, less than 10 years old in this case - props to their urban planning department for being able to completely level and redevelop a whole city (warehouse) district in such a short time. For that reason though it looks very similar to the post WW2 districts in Germany - 6-10 story flats with shops at street level. Hopefully it ages as well as those have. My current neighborhood in Seattle could learn a lot from their example.
- Gosser beer - find it at Clyde Common in downtown Portland - only place I've yet found it. It's one of the major Austrian brews. Tasty.
- Best recent music find - Helio Sequence - Keep Your Eyes Ahead album - interesting sound, and surprisingly upbeat for music from this region.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Next up... ???
House closed today.
The earnings are enough for a down payment on an in-the-city place here, though given the economy presently I'm going to wait a bit and see what happens.
Quick estimate using nice round numbers.
Purchase price -170,000
Home Improvements -10,000
Interest Paid -20,000
Tax Benefits +14,000
Sale Price -Fees +203,700
Total Earnings +17,700 over 1.75 years
Earnings Per Year +10114
Approx Percent ROI +5.95
Over most of the period of home ownership, my 401k was earning a similar percentage, and even the HSBC online savings account was over 5%, so the earnings on a single family home in one of the most-positive real estate markets in the country were better, but not exceptionally so, than traditional investments.
Next up - more detailed numbers and how it would have compared to renting.
The earnings are enough for a down payment on an in-the-city place here, though given the economy presently I'm going to wait a bit and see what happens.
Quick estimate using nice round numbers.
Purchase price -170,000
Home Improvements -10,000
Interest Paid -20,000
Tax Benefits +14,000
Sale Price -Fees +203,700
Total Earnings +17,700 over 1.75 years
Earnings Per Year +10114
Approx Percent ROI +5.95
Over most of the period of home ownership, my 401k was earning a similar percentage, and even the HSBC online savings account was over 5%, so the earnings on a single family home in one of the most-positive real estate markets in the country were better, but not exceptionally so, than traditional investments.
Next up - more detailed numbers and how it would have compared to renting.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Weekend
It was a nice, sunny weekend out here. We spent Saturday driving the length of Lake Washington, stopping at a few of the parks along the way to wander and see the sights.
Sunday we hit the markets and came home with a lot of vegetables, then went to check out a small sailboat - sailing is apparently the weekend thing to do around here when the weather is decent. And, like my car decision last fall, if used only occasionally, the two options are rent, or buy cheap. I took the cheap car route, and probably will pick up a cheap boat as well.
The house closing is on Tuesday - still no decision on the market here. It looks stable enough that purchasing might not be a bad idea, but I should probably give it 6 months and see what sells during the prime part of the year, and what doesn't.
Well, time to start the day here.
Sunday we hit the markets and came home with a lot of vegetables, then went to check out a small sailboat - sailing is apparently the weekend thing to do around here when the weather is decent. And, like my car decision last fall, if used only occasionally, the two options are rent, or buy cheap. I took the cheap car route, and probably will pick up a cheap boat as well.
The house closing is on Tuesday - still no decision on the market here. It looks stable enough that purchasing might not be a bad idea, but I should probably give it 6 months and see what sells during the prime part of the year, and what doesn't.
Well, time to start the day here.
Friday, February 8, 2008
General Update
1) House is under contract and the closing date of the 21st is fast approaching. Everything looks good thus far.
2) What to do with the cash... short term is obviously an online savings account, but given the fractional at best appreciation from real estate, is buying another place the best solution right now?
Two ways of thinking here: looking at the economy, inflation is coming, odds are sooner rather than later, and having a fixed rate, fixed amount, mortgage is an interesting way of benefiting from inflation.
The other way of thinking is to rent for 2 years while getting a degree and saving money enough to make a larger leap then. Interest rates will have to rise to control inflation... it is a bit more of a gamble having a fair amount of cash in that situation, even if it is invested safely.
Currently in the city rent+parking on ~750ft^2 is ~$1500/mo. To buy an equivalent size and location place with 20% down the mortgage + taxes will be ~$2000/mo with another $300-400/mo for condo dues. That is a massive difference that currently negates any tax benefits to owning.
I'd like to say - oh, I'll be taking classes that teach me how to turn this into a win win situation - but one thing that I have already learned from business classes is that predicting the response of the economy does not tend to give accurate results.
3) Seattle - still cool. The winters here are quite grey. It's already February, so that should be improving soon enough. At least there's still a lot of green - few trees lose their leaves it seems.
4) The mushroom selection and quality at Uwajimaya is awesome. From spicy Honshimeji to really meaty Shiitake it's no wonder I wasn't that into mushrooms in NC - even the Fresh Market ones were already dried up and well, stale.
5) Apparently the far out suburbs and mountains are getting a lot of snow this winter - haven't seen any of that apart from some flurries in the city. People complain about traffic or the weather... it is really nice not having to deal with any of that anymore. Just throw on a jacket and within a mile anything's available. Tons of food of any nationality in both grocery and restaurant form, live music, shopping (bargain and nice), books, movies. Seems like the ideal way to live imo.
6) The job has been busy lately, but I seem to be staying afloat - this is good. And not working weekends anymore is a great change. Falling asleep at 9PM is kinda weak, but getting adjusted to the early schedule will pay dividends once classes begin in the fall. (UW evening MBA program is my aim at this point - going through the application presently)
2) What to do with the cash... short term is obviously an online savings account, but given the fractional at best appreciation from real estate, is buying another place the best solution right now?
Two ways of thinking here: looking at the economy, inflation is coming, odds are sooner rather than later, and having a fixed rate, fixed amount, mortgage is an interesting way of benefiting from inflation.
The other way of thinking is to rent for 2 years while getting a degree and saving money enough to make a larger leap then. Interest rates will have to rise to control inflation... it is a bit more of a gamble having a fair amount of cash in that situation, even if it is invested safely.
Currently in the city rent+parking on ~750ft^2 is ~$1500/mo. To buy an equivalent size and location place with 20% down the mortgage + taxes will be ~$2000/mo with another $300-400/mo for condo dues. That is a massive difference that currently negates any tax benefits to owning.
I'd like to say - oh, I'll be taking classes that teach me how to turn this into a win win situation - but one thing that I have already learned from business classes is that predicting the response of the economy does not tend to give accurate results.
3) Seattle - still cool. The winters here are quite grey. It's already February, so that should be improving soon enough. At least there's still a lot of green - few trees lose their leaves it seems.
4) The mushroom selection and quality at Uwajimaya is awesome. From spicy Honshimeji to really meaty Shiitake it's no wonder I wasn't that into mushrooms in NC - even the Fresh Market ones were already dried up and well, stale.
5) Apparently the far out suburbs and mountains are getting a lot of snow this winter - haven't seen any of that apart from some flurries in the city. People complain about traffic or the weather... it is really nice not having to deal with any of that anymore. Just throw on a jacket and within a mile anything's available. Tons of food of any nationality in both grocery and restaurant form, live music, shopping (bargain and nice), books, movies. Seems like the ideal way to live imo.
6) The job has been busy lately, but I seem to be staying afloat - this is good. And not working weekends anymore is a great change. Falling asleep at 9PM is kinda weak, but getting adjusted to the early schedule will pay dividends once classes begin in the fall. (UW evening MBA program is my aim at this point - going through the application presently)
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Experience #2
iTunes movie rental - downloaded 1.5GB (2hr) movie in 65 min. And that was for a generally new release (Ocean's 13 - better than 12 - bit campy as usual, but entertaining). Not bad!
So, from someone that hadn't rented/gone to a movie in ah 5 months, I've now rented 2 in the past month. Apple has thus succeeded in capturing the lazy movie watcher demographic.
So, from someone that hadn't rented/gone to a movie in ah 5 months, I've now rented 2 in the past month. Apple has thus succeeded in capturing the lazy movie watcher demographic.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)