Monday, March 22, 2010

Oh, The Horror

There's plenty of crying foul today in light of the latest government push to cover some folks with health care. It seems odd to me though that the party of personal responsibility is also the party of telling women what they can't do with their bodies, and the party of giving my tax money to churches. Oh, and lest I forget, they're the party of bomb-the-shit-out-of-the-wrong country....and get stuck up to our nuts there.

A guy I know spoke today of how this was akin to selling our kids' souls down the rabbit hole. I would argue that they were sold down with the Patriot Act, the invasion of Iraq, the placation of oil companies tied to Saudi Arabia, and with the appointment of Alito and Roberts to the supreme court. All of the grand decisions made by the collective genious of the last 10 years of government will haunt the grandchildren of our kids just as we're still cleaning up after the decisions of the "greatest generation" with a war of some sort every 15-20 years.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Buying Foreclosures

If anyone wonders what is wrong with the housing market or why that foreclosure on the block won't go away, just ask someone who is trying to buy one. You'll almost certainly hear about appraisal management companies and scared or completely inept appraisers, lenders who couldn't find their ass with a road map, and heaps of FHA/HUD paperwork. The only bright spot on this scene is our realtor, while just as frustrated as we are at the craziness that it take to buy a vacant house that's not in perfect shape, knew what we were in for and told us what to expect. The advice that I can give someone out there who wants to buy a property that isn't perfect is this: get a realtor who has worked in investment property for a while, expect rotten hang-ups with the deal from "da gubment" or their local sub-par lackeys, and be prepared for a long wait.