Seriously, I've been here more than two years, and I've heard maybe one gunshot since I moved. I live out in the Sunset District, though, which is much safer than most places in the city.), and in crash tests the Beetle sustained less damage and cost only a tiny fraction of what other cars cost to repair. Add to that that VW now includes safety features approaching Volvo-grade, and that the car is more or less built like a crash helmet anyway, and it was pretty easy for me to overlook the wannabe-hippie crap and buy one. In less than a year I've already had a crazy woman run into me on the freeway, and the Beetle's damage was pretty much limited to a couple of paint scuffs.
You can never have too much power.
Originally posted by AlphaTech
Man, I hope you didn't pay a lot for that toy... ota...
From my viewpoint, if you are going to have a truck, get 4 wheel drive. Also get an engine that won't strain when a second person gets into it (i.e. a 4 banger). Manual tranny is good, if you like it, but how many gears? My 2002 Ranger has a 5 speed automatic and power everything too. Plus the 4 litre V6 has more then enough power for anything I could possibly need to do with it.
Sorry - the Ti. I should have said, if you think the TiBook 550 is fast, you must not be running OS X.
Originally posted by Gelfin
Heh. If it was in the middle of a gun battle that's probably why there was parking available.
Originally posted by alex_ant
Sorry - the Ti. I should have said, if you think the TiBook 550 is fast, you must not be running OS X.
Everyone is telling me to get more RAM, but c'mon, 256MB should be enough. It just should. I had 32MB in my computer 3 years ago and did just fine on that. *Sob*
Alex
Originally posted by 3rdpath
i thought home prices were out of hand here in california until my friends told me what they paid for their flats. holy cow!!!!makes my $325/sqft seem like a steal...in my opinion, home ownership is highly over-rated.
homes are a liability, not an asset.
) as compared to losing the house to your wife which has a very finite value...
Originally posted by 3rdpath
i'm still not convinced that a home is an asset. i've run the numbers under many scenarios and when you factor in interest paid, insurance, taxes,( eathquake insurance here in ca), repairs and commission to sell-well its a pretty marginal call. i'll agree that after approx 18 years things look better but its still a tough call.
my house has had an insane increase in value since i bought it three years ago but:
1) its all on paper
2) everything else here has gone up pretty much the same-i'll only make money( and keep it) if i buy a comparable house in frognot, texas....
you do get the security that you won't get booted if you own a house and it will make your wife happy....( which has an infinite value
i know what you mean 3rd path...people often don't look at the hidden expenses...he he my friend bought his house in monterey in 1980 for 204k, put 20k into it and now, after dot.bomb, it is worth 210k...he can't live long enough to cash in big becasue he suffers from muscular distrophy and i think he was banking on having that house help him in his last days which it probably won't which is sad...great thing is that he is almost 50 and still alive with this terrible illness
a famous rock star i know of got als in the 1980s or early 90s and was expected to live just months...last i heard he is still alive and composes on computer (jason becker)
but i know what you mean by real estate prices...california has been hit hard and one carmel house i know of went from 750k to 310k but the price will go up again in the next ten years
.
Originally posted by 3rdpath
the savings from your write-off of mortgage interest and taxes isn't 100%-it only saves you what you would pay in taxes. so if you're in the 30% tax bracket, you're only "getting back" 30% of each dollar you paid in interest and taxes. it certainly helps at the end of the year but its not a sound financial reason to buy a house. and when you factor in everything i mentioned earlier, well its still a toss-up.
i'm not saying home ownership is bad-far from it, just from a financial perspective its not the best use of capital. when you factor in the emotional issues ( and the premium you're willing to pay for them) it can certainly be a positive experience- but thats not the same as thing as an asset. ( financially speaking, since we've been talking $$$)
