The blog of Brian Kirsten

 

More foreclosure madness...

These folks should never been allowed to buy houses...

Some South Floridians who lose their houses to foreclosure try to get even. They'll strip the plumbing, ruin the carpets and rip out doors.

Exasperated lenders are getting wise to the ruse and offering "cash for keys" deals, essentially paying homeowners as much as $2,000 not to take out their frustrations on their properties before leaving. Roughly half of all foreclosed properties are returned to the bank with substantial damage, according to a national survey of 1,500 real estate agents by Campbell Communications, a marketing and research firm in Washington, D.C.

Facing foreclosure, residents are trashing homes

Filed under  //   Financial   Home   Interesting Links   Real Estate  
Posted April 8, 2008
 

James Howard Kunstler: The tragedy of suburbia

From the Ted talks series, James Howard Kunstler talks about suburban sprawl and the loss of urban design. It's a longish video (21+ minutes) but still worth watching. My favorite quote: "If you stand at the apron of the Walmart over here and try to look at the Target over here, you can't see it because of the curvature of the Earth."

Filed under  //   Home   Ranting   Real Estate   Video  
Posted October 5, 2007
 

New Urban Cowboy Trailer

After visiting Chicago for a week, I've learned to appreciate the urban lifestyle. Having the ability to walk, grab a cab or take a train to anything you desire allows you to experience everything about a city instead of zipping through it in a car. I've quickly learned to hate the suburbs, where I currently live. It's almost like living rurally, with next to nothing of real interest closer than a 20 minute car ride. I get a feeling from the trailer of "New Urban Cowboy" that artist Michael E. Arth dislikes the suburban lifestyle as well, he decides to revitalize an urban area instead of building into the wilderness like so many of the builders in Florida like to do. The film is showing at the Global Peace Festival this Saturday, sadly I'll be out of town but it's something I'll definitely pick up when it hits DVD (preferably Blu-Ray).

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Filed under  //   Home   Ranting   Real Estate  
Posted September 27, 2007
 

Robert Kiyosaki and the housing market

"Do you think the Federal Reserve should intervene to save the economy by dropping interest rates?" My reply then as well as now: "No. This is a capitalist system, not a communist one. Anyone who expects the government to bail them out every time their greed and stupidity causes them to lose money is being foolish."
Check out the full article. Read Rich Dad Poor Dad
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Filed under  //   Financial   Home   Interesting Links   Investing   Ranting   Real Estate  
Posted September 27, 2007
 

Sonoma stage left

Link to the video on Youtube. I filmed this with my Sony Ericsson K610i so the quality is so-so. Originally I had filmed it landscape mode, I thought I could convert it in iMovie but the only options I could find were plug-ins for iMovie you had to pay for (booo). I came across this post over at macosxhints to use BitPlayer (free! w00t!) to rotate the movie.

Filed under  //   Dog   Home   Humor  
Posted September 1, 2007