On 2 Feb 2006 13:31:53 -0800, wrote:

7. Wes Stewart Feb 2, 4:20 pm

"What difference does it make? Why on Earth should a homeowner worry
about what a next owner might want? "

Maybe because he's thinking of making several types of improvements,
all of which he could use and enjoy,
but he wants to factor in which have the most impact on resale price.
Sounds very reasonable and smart to me,
as long as one doesn't let this be the overiding issue.

"Houses are to live in. Cars are to drive. People who think of them
as "investments" are deluding themselves just like governments that
claim they are "investing in the future.

If you want to put money in investments buy stocks or bonds. If you
insist in owning real estate buy REITs. "

Maybe he already has investments in stocks and bonds. And which has
performed the best
over the last 5 years? Stocks, bonds, reits or single family homes,
investment genius?

Well now lemme see... I bought Simon Property Group (SPG) on 11/14/01
at $28.68 a share. I had a stop loss order in place and sold at
$51.10 on 4/12/04. A slightly bad move but I worry about preservation
of capital. When it was clear that I had found the bottom, I bought
it back on 4/16/04 for $51.32. It closed today at $82.95.

GGP has performed (no surprise) the same and had I not pulled cash out
of it to sink into this house I would be money ahead. But I put the
money in the house knowing full well that I will not recover my
expenditure, but I will add to my quality of life.

Capital Automotive was a great winner, so good that someone bought the
whole thing and took it private. My annualized return over a slightly
less than five year period was 23.46%. (All dividends reinvested)

All of the above are REITs BTW.

Now I don't know how my house has appreciated in the same time period,
but it doesn't match that but what does it matter? I have to live
someplace and if I sold it, I'd have to replace it with something else
equally inflated. And while I don't have a mortgage, the monthly
payment never ends. I'm still buying insurance, paying for
maintenance and my county assessor is delighted to raise my "rent"
based on my new found "windfall." If anyone thinks that they really
own their homes, they should see what happens if they don't pay their
property taxes.

Certainly if someone sells a house in San Francisco and moves to
Fargo, they might realize a big gain, but who wants to live in Fargo?

I stand by my assessment.