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Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index
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To: Amy J who wrote (18196)3/6/2004 5:42:41 PM
From: GraceZRead Replies (1) of 306849
 
They can start out like we did and all our friends started out, with cast off furniture (or Ikea!) from family and friends and roommates. I couldn't afford new furniture when I was first starting out and buying a house took my very last dime. My very first house purchase was a beautiful oval hooked rug from the Goodwill which my husband and I paid $50 for in 1987. I loved that thing and I just recently gave it away. It had a stain which dictated where I had to put the loveseat but that was a small problem.

We're talking about inflation in living expenses like food, shelter, healthcare and whatnot. You'd have a hard time arguing that the cost of durables like furniture and refrigerators has risen faster than the CPI and certainly it is no where to be seen in electronic toys or lawn and garden equipment. It is services and utilities which have risen the fastest, areas where local companies have monopoly pricing power or government sponsored monopoly.

People are largely unaware of the falling prices on durables simply because they continually buy goods which are vastly improved. The price rise for a simple washer dryer combo is negligible over the past 15 years, autos have been declining while people's tastes have run to those which are far more luxurious. The problem is people want these freakin European washer dryers with every option, six thousand dollar restaurant grade six burner stoves and SUVs with DVD screens and GPS in them. They don't want a simple two door compact car that they were happy with when they were 22 or a washer dryer that has simple wash and spin. Me, I'm not smart enough to figure out why I need cooling zones in my refrigerator but I'd pay good money for a feature that put the food in there and cleaned out the rotting vegetables from the crisper.

You have any idea how many times I've walked around in someone's Northern California kitchen with granite counters, skylights, stainless steel sub zero fridge, six burner Hobart stove, Jenair dishwasher, heated Italian tile floors and $500 kitchen faucet (when the Moen from the HD costs $25) while they are serving me some trendy designer food only to have them tell me that they can't save any money because prices in CA are out of control.....it's them that's out of control. Of course they can always point to Richie's ex-wife and feel like they are being conservative in their spending.
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