10 best places to own real estate

Many Americans looking at the values of their homes are asking not whether it will fall, but how much. But in fact, more than half of the 100 top markets in the U.S. are slated to rise next year. Forecasts for 100 real estate markets 10 housing markets projected to rise
Metro area	2007 projected price change	2008 projected price change	Median home price
McAllen-Mission, Texas	8.50%	9.80%	$69,660
El Paso	7.10%	4.40%	$124,410
Albuquerque	5.90%	0.60%	$179,620
Salt Lake City	5.40%	1.90%	$186,230
Syracuse, N.Y.	4.80%	3.60%	$117,540
San Antonio	4.80%	3.50%	$139,830
Rochester, N.Y.	4.50%	4.20%	$116,090
Baton Rouge	4.50%	2.80%	$170,240
Fort Worth-Arlington	4.40%	3.50%	$127,470
Birmingham, Ala.	4.40%	3.50%	$165,740

Wii Wants You - Nintendo is looking to harness non-gamers with its new console

Nintendo has repeatedly stated that it's attempting to reach outside of the normal market for games, and expand game playing to everyone. But how exactly are they going to do that?





Article Source: Business Week

business, nintendo, wii, gamers, game-consoles

If US boosts troop levels in Iraq, then for how long?

For the next several years, active duty ground forces must accept longer tours in Iraq - perhaps 15 months, instead of the current 12 - and National Guard units will have to accept increased deployments. Spending 12 months in Iraq is a long time, but 15 months would be unbearable.

Article Source: Christian Science Monitor

us-news, iraq, iraq-war, troops, deployment, iraq-troop-levels

Seeded by mikealao

Lemmings

This is a lemming. It is actually a myth that they mindlessly follow the crowd. It is not however, a myth that humans and wildebeest do.

Economic storm brewing in America

I have pulled all of my money out of the US stock market. Originally I did this because of the annual slump that occurs in the early part of December. Now I am beginning to think that I will sit out the market for just a little while longer to see what happens.

Americans extracted 6 per cent of GDP from their homes last year in equity withdrawals (ie, more debt), mostly to subsidise their lifestyles. This game is up. Professor Nouriel Roubini from New York University says recession is inevitable. "People have been using their homes as their ATM machine, but many are now facing negative equity so there will be a lot of foreclosures. As the housing recession spreads to manufacturing, this is going to lead to a much harder landing than people think."

Tech Tags: us+economy recession housing stock+market

Don't Buy if it is Cheaper to Rent - A simple rule

This is a very simple economic rule:

Do not buy a property if it is less expensive to rent that property.

Many of you can relate to the experiences of recent years when house prices were just going insane. If you bought a home prior to 2003, the price increases made you feel like you made the investment of your life. Some of you might have even made the mistake of dipping into that equity through a line of home equity credit. I hope that you didn't.

I remember colleagues at that Fat 4 Accounting Firm were I worked in 2004 that would show up in the office in tears because they were outbid on a house that they didn't even have the opportunity to see before making an offer on it. I thought to myself, why would I want to buy a home in a market where I was expected to offer more than the asking price without even having the chance to see the place? Is that the way a market is supposed to work? The simple answer is, no.

People speak of "sellers' markets" and "buyers' markets", but you know what, there is only one type of market, and that is the one you choose to participate in. Why would you even think about participating in a market where you as a buyer are not the one being pursued? Do you go to a car dealer and put a bid on a car without being allowed to even sit in it? Every market is a "buyers' market". If it isn't, it’s not a market you want to deal in!

There is a great book written by Charles Mackey titled, "Extraordinary Popular Delusion and the Madness of the Crowd". It explains episodes not unsimilar to those we experienced recently in "hot" markets such as California, Florida, the Northeast, and in the Washington DC suburbs. Read the chapter on tulip mania in the Netherlands and you may say, "those people were mad and invested fortunes in worthless tulips not house", but you would be missing the point. Is losing $20,000 on a tulip bulb after the mania passes different than taking a 10% hit on that Northern Virginia studio for which you paid $200,000 when you could have rented the place for $1,000 a month?

Tech Tags: real+estate crashing+real+estate+market housing Charles+Mackey popular+delusions delusions madness madness+of+crowds buyers'+market sellers'+market lunacy

The big Digg rig

Could this be the end of Digg, Reddit, and our other social bookmarking friends? The interesting thing I picked up from this article is that there is a site out there that is paying $0.50 for every 3 diggs. That seems like quite a bit of money, and I wonder what effect marketing sites like these will have.

The link to the site is www.usersubmitter.com.

Tech Tags: digg reddit social+bookmarking

The Dollar Melts as Iraq Burns

James K. Galbraith says in the Guardian on December 4, 2006 that as "far back as 2002, we understood - as the economically illiterate neo-imperialists did not - that a world system very favourable to America was on the line. And it was not, as they seemed to think, just a matter of military might. We knew that if the war undermined confidence in the power, good faith and common sense of the United States, that could lead toward disastrous changes on the financial front. Four years in and with no end in sight, that risk may finally be catching up to the almighty dollar."

No doubt Mr. Galbraith is correct, the global economy and interdependence is America's Achilles Heel. What was, and still is, the Bush administration thinking when it comes to financing these huge budget deficits that according to them don't matter very much? Someone has to finance those deficits, and the countries doing so in large part are not exactly America's best friends, or to say the least, they certainly have their own interests in mind. I'm talking about China and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia alone could pull the rug out from under the American economy and set it in a downward tail spin simply by pulling out it's investments in America's debt. China could easily do the same.

The current fall in the dollar reflects the loss of confidence among the world's investors in the American market. Mr. Galbraith seems to be adding that the world may not just be losing confidence in America's market, but in America itself.

Very troubling indeed.

Tech Tags: Dollar Iraq Guardian Galbraith investor+confidence

Free tool rates how well designed, popular, and accessible your website is

Sitescore allows users to submit their web page url and have the page scored according to several factors. The final score, based on a scale of 1 -10 with 10 being the best, is then given to the user along with individual scoring and advice for each specific website attribute tested. Once your site has been reviewed, it is added to the list of sites maintained on the Sitescore website.

Sites are scored in the following areas:

• Marketing
• Design
• Accessibility
• Experience
• User Feedback (from users scoring site)
  

This is how they describe their site:

"Sitescore is a free tool which rates how well designed, popular and accessible your website is."

Tech Tags: sitescore site score websites rankings

Snap.com preview tool for bloggers

Check out the cool tool from snap.com that allows your blog readers to preview links included in your blog.

Some examples:

Yahoo
Google
Time Magazine

Tech Tags: snap.com preview blog+tools