Big sale on 22 Cornelia

Asked $6.495, sold today after just 10 days on the market for $6.4 million (I’m sure the buyer had been eying it long before then). I thought this was one of the worst “more challenging” pieces of land in mid country, being basically a large pile of dirt plunging down to swampland below but Cornelia is close to town, so I guess the buyers didn’t care. Nice looking house of this type and the builder seems to have carved out a yard and a pool.

UPDATE: A reader commented on the massive retaining walls that surround this land. I managed to lose the comment but yeah, I wonder about those walls too – what’s their lifespan and, if relevant, how much would they cost to rebuild?

I don’t find this reassuring in the least

 

Suicide jockies

Britain struggles to find enough security guards for the Olympics, but not to worry:

“We’ve done all the planning, we’ve looked at the way in which terrorists have attacked in the past and we try to make sure that none of those could get through our security measures,” said Chris Allison, Britain’s national Olympic security adviser.

It seems to me that looking at past terrorist techniques isn’t going to be much use today, but then, I’m not a “security adviser”.

Holy bad timing, BatMan

Damn!

Oh, so THAT’S what you want!

After 69 years, ABC news says it will now try to provide accurate reporting. I’d say better late than never but it’s been too late for network news since maybe 1965.

So why would he want to ban the Big Gulp?

 

Get ’em to the church on time

Bloomberg claims gay marriage brought $259 million (how precise!) to the city last year.

Whew! We’re just about back to full strength

Lumpen proletariate demand the right to steal

Another forty state workers reinstated after being fired for welfare fraud. “We’re 80 for 80”, their lawyer crows, as well he should – it’s the Governor who’s eating that bird. I’m not a particular fan of Malloy but he tried to do the right thing here and was thwarted by the hopelessly biased system of employee arbitration (enacted by his Democrat predecessors, but never mind), which makes it impossible to fire any state or municipal “worker” no matter the crime.

“We’re going to l’escale!”, one exuberant thief cried, “and Greenwich folks are payin’ for it!”

Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker

 

Protect our kids!

78 Dandy Drive has an accepted offer. Asked $1.295 million, and was listed for around 68 days. I tried to set up a showing for it just a few days ago and learned then that contracts had been exchanged. A house in decent condition in this price range is becoming a rare thing. With luck, that will encourage owners of similar houses who might have been sitting out the market to return. We can use the inventory.

In this price range – you got a $5 million house you’d like to get rid of, I suggest you just relax and enjoy the pool.

Take your pick

Calculated Risk: home sale prices rising

Zero Hedge: no housing recovery in these charts. I’m with Zero: can’t have a recovery when everyone’s out of work, on disability, crushed under student debt or all three. There aren’t enough aging boomers in the new housing market to bring this thing back and they’re downsizing, not buying bigger.

A question for you financial types

Knowing nothing much about anything but especially nothing about bond trading, I was struck by this observation in Bloomberg’s report on Germany’s credit rating downgrade:

Almost half the time, yields on government bonds fall when a rating action by Standard & Poor’sand Moody’s suggests they should climb, according to data compiled by Bloomberg on 314 upgrades, downgrades and outlook changes going back as far as the 1970s.

After S&P stripped France and the U.S. of AAA grades, interest rates paid by the countries to finance their deficits dropped rather than rose. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield yesterday fell as low as a record 1.3960 percent. That compares with an average of 3.76 percent over the past 10 years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

My first thought was that a downgrade of a strong country would make weaker ones look even riskier and thus drive up the value of the stronger, albeit downgraded country. But that doesn’t explain why France would rise after a downgrade so …?

UPDATE: Lots of good answers in the comments, if anyone else shares my curiosity and my ignorance.

Careful what you wish for

“Bowing” to pressure from big box stores and state governors, Amazon is quitting its fight against collecting sales tax and will instead start building distribution sites in those states. This, I read recently but can’t seem to find the link at this instant, is because the company is gearing up to offer same day delivery to its customers. Me, I’m perfectly content to wait two days for whatever I order but same day delivery is going to be a fatal game changer for most stores.

And no mercy here for those big box stores whining about customers coming in, learning what they want and then ordering from Amazon. It was exactly this process that enabled the boxes to put their smaller competitors out of business, and now it’s their turn. Capitalism is creative destruction, and it works well until politicians step in to protect their cronies.

Look for massive campaign contributions from the brick and mortar stores in the upcoming election cycle.

RELATED: Dean of a community college looks at Amazon’s new education plan for its warehouse employees and likes what he sees. Being a liberal, it appears, he worries that he’s missing the evil streak underlying Amazon’s offer and invites comments from readers. Those will be fun to read but relax, Dean, you got it right.

We don’ need no stinkin’ oil

Since we won’t buy it, Canada sells its oil resources to China. This is all part of the green’s plan to deindustrialize the United States. Blocking pipelines, passing laws prohibiting the import or use of oil derived from Canadian tar sands does not stop the development or use of fossil fuels, as all but the most deluded of the Greens must realize.

So we lose access to the oil and gas we need to sustain our economy while China thrives. I wouldn’t credit Dollar Bill and his fellow useful idiots with the acumen to recognize the effect of their actions but surely their masters do. In which case, conspiracy doesn’t seem too paranoid a term to use here.

Nothing doing on the open house tour

There’s a “new” listing on show but since it didn’t sell for a million less last year and nothing’s been done to add value now, why bother?

I realize that it seems that everyone’s left town but buyers are still around, and a new listing now would really stand out. And it would entertain those of us still here.

New weapon in the GAR arsenal?

 

Gimme’ the listing, I’ll have this sold in two weeks

Zombie bugs – they invade the brains of their host and drive them to commit suicide. Are they doing this to homeowners, implanting false hopes of record prices in their heads? Only the Evil GAR Princess knows, and she’s not talking.

We knew that

Psst! Got a tip for you, Vladimir

Diane Feinstein has joined with a few of her colleagues, including fellow Democrats) to point out the obvious: Someone at the White House is deliberately leaking secrets that jeopardize our national security.

Feinstein said she was certain that President Obama had not disclosed any of the classified intelligence, but believed others in the administration were responsible.

“I don’t believe for a moment that he goes out and talks about it,” she said of the president.

Last month, reports in the press detailing a U.S. cyberattack against Iran and an administration terrorist “kill list” provoked outrage on Capitol Hill and led to bipartisan calls for an investigation into the disclosures.

I understand her loyalty to her president but I don’t share her confidence in his integrity.