I Need Reasons why I should buy a home in Cleveland (Euclid: sales, house)

[jam40jeff]

Around the same amount as for a bus pass, right?

[Chef Boyardee]

As a matter of fact, bus passes are subsidized by The Federal Government. In fact, public transportation was nationalized in American, iirc, in The 1970s. Since then, we see our tax dollars wasted on one hundred thousand dollar bus shelters and lots of bus routes that are barely used. Even now, a huge and terribly expensive public transportation project is underway on Euclid avenue. It amounts to a "White Elephant"

Why bring that up? Well, our government spends tons of our money on stupid crap just like that. In the end, it causes Inflation. What we see as Inflation is just the tip of the iceberg.

In our economy, Productivity gains should be producing lower prices and higher wages. On average that should amount to about a 3% annual reduction in prices. That Economy makes "everyone" rich! So, what's going wrong???

Well, our government spends tons of money on social programs, like public transportation, section 8 housing, food stamps, Medicare, Social Security, etc, etc. It spends so much darn money on these programs, that it even has to borrow (trillions) just to get by. That folks, causes so much Inflation that it eats up our Productivity Gains and adds, on average since the 1960s, 4% annually to prices. Hence, you can say, our average annual rate of "Inflation" since 1960 has been 7%.

[achtungpv]

I wouldn't buy in the Cleveland metro area unless you were in it for the long haul. Some friends built a house in Avon Lake about 2 years ago for around $300K. A good price for the house they built and in (from what I'm told) one of nicer towns of the metro area. They went to go refinance to a lower rate a couple of weeks ago and were turned down because the house has depreciated over 25% already.

[NewToCA]

Originally Posted by Chef Boyardee

As a matter of fact, bus passes are subsidized by The Federal Government. In fact, public transportation was nationalized in American, iirc, in The 1970s. Since then, we see our tax dollars wasted on one hundred thousand dollar bus shelters and lots of bus routes that are barely used. Even now, a huge and terribly expensive public transportation project is underway on Euclid avenue. It amounts to a "White Elephant"

Why bring that up? Well, our government spends tons of our money on stupid crap just like that. In the end, it causes Inflation. What we see as Inflation is just the tip of the iceberg.

In our economy, Productivity gains should be producing lower prices and higher wages. On average that should amount to about a 3% annual reduction in prices. That Economy makes "everyone" rich! So, what's going wrong???

Well, our government spends tons of money on social programs, like public transportation, section 8 housing, food stamps, Medicare, Social Security, etc, etc. It spends so much darn money on these programs, that it even has to borrow (trillions) just to get by. That folks, causes so much Inflation that it eats up our Productivity Gains and adds, on average since the 1960s, 4% annually to prices. Hence, you can say, our average annual rate of "Inflation" since 1960 has been 7%.

You are just flat out factually wrong here.

Your linkage of cause and effect isn't correct. If you look at the long term history of multi-level public expenditures vs inflation rates, your assumptions are easily shown to be wrong. I could go on for pages about why your assumptions are incorrect, but let's just say you have excluded multiple secondary attributes such as international finances, trade, population growth, commodity shortages/depletion and technological evolution.

Public expenditures to help out the less fortunate doesn't, and has never, ruined the economy. One can debate the wisdom and/or level of many of these expenditures, but your cause and effect linkage is just inaccurate.

[NewToCA]

Originally Posted by achtungpv

I wouldn't buy in the Cleveland metro area unless you were in it for the long haul. Some friends built a house in Avon Lake about 2 years ago for around $300K. A good price for the house they built and in (from what I'm told) one of nicer towns of the metro area. They went to go refinance to a lower rate a couple of weeks ago and were turned down because the house has depreciated over 25% already.

That is an unfortunate situation that has happened practically everywhere in the entire country too.

If you take a look at the internationally recognized Case-Shiller housing index, you will see that metro Cleveland "same house" has declined about 21% since it peaked in Oct 2005. This validates your observation. However, other metro markets tracked by Case-Shiller have declined even more, such as Chicago, which has declined 25%, and Minneapolis, which has declined 32%.

[jam40jeff]

Originally Posted by Chef Boyardee

As a matter of fact, bus passes are subsidized by The Federal Government. In fact, public transportation was nationalized in American, iirc, in The 1970s. Since then, we see our tax dollars wasted on one hundred thousand dollar bus shelters and lots of bus routes that are barely used. Even now, a huge and terribly expensive public transportation project is underway on Euclid avenue. It amounts to a "White Elephant"

Typical, attack public spending on mass transportation, but ignore the massive public spending and subsidies for highways. You do know about the billions stolen from the public transit fund for the highway fund by Bush to cover the ever increasing deficit caused by the fact that gasoline taxes do not cover highway maintenance, right? There's also of course many infrastructure products using monies from the general fund as well. Of course, that is fine, as long as YOU are benefiting from it, right?

[jam40jeff]

Originally Posted by NewToCA

That is an unfortunate situation that has happened practically everywhere in the entire country too.

If you take a look at the internationally recognized Case-Shiller housing index, you will see that metro Cleveland "same house" has declined about 21% since it peaked in Oct 2005. This validates your observation. However, other metro markets tracked by Case-Shiller have declined even more, such as Chicago, which has declined 25%, and Minneapolis, which has declined 32%.

Not to mention that housing values haven't lost near as much here in the past few years as Las Vegas, Phoenix, California, and Florida, the one-time supposedly "hot" real estate markets.

[ZnGuy]

Some regions of US can be very different in housing performance,i.e. I sold in Spring of 2004 (Chagrin) which in hindsite was a good move at selling near peak and built a home in Charlotte Feb 2004. Based on Case-Shiller index (if I am interpreting correctly) my current (CLT) house has appreciated 7.6% since I moved here. Charlotte hit it's peak in Mar. 2008 and is only 9.5% off it's peak price. Based on the CLE peak in Oct 2005, Charlotte prices are off 0.27% (vs. CLE 21%) so market performance doesn't compare. Fortunately Charlotte was not an over heated market. It also helps (from housing mkt standpt) that annually 60,000 move to Charlotte.

[5Lakes]

Originally Posted by Chef Boyardee

As a matter of fact, bus passes are subsidized by The Federal Government. In fact, public transportation was nationalized in American, iirc, in The 1970s. Since then, we see our tax dollars wasted on one hundred thousand dollar bus shelters and lots of bus routes that are barely used. Even now, a huge and terribly expensive public transportation project is underway on Euclid avenue. It amounts to a "White Elephant"

Why bring that up? Well, our government spends tons of our money on stupid crap just like that. In the end, it causes Inflation. What we see as Inflation is just the tip of the iceberg.

In our economy, Productivity gains should be producing lower prices and higher wages. On average that should amount to about a 3% annual reduction in prices. That Economy makes "everyone" rich! So, what's going wrong???

Well, our government spends tons of money on social programs, like public transportation, section 8 housing, food stamps, Medicare, Social Security, etc, etc. It spends so much darn money on these programs, that it even has to borrow (trillions) just to get by. That folks, causes so much Inflation that it eats up our Productivity Gains and adds, on average since the 1960s, 4% annually to prices. Hence, you can say, our average annual rate of "Inflation" since 1960 has been 7%.

I agree with the premise of what you are saying, but I do not agree that it should apply to public transit. To me public transit is important infrastructure that has been severely neglected in this country due to the subsidized auto industry and associated roadway systems. If you want to talk about subsidies, the American government has subsidized suburbanization at expense of cities for decades. Think of all the redundant governments and roadways that must be funded to support sprawl.

Public Discourse, Why Conservatives Should Care About Transit, by David Schaengold

If transit is properly implemented it can be used to revitalize neighborhoods and bring in tax dollars as new residents who value proximity to transit will gravitate to these areas. Only time will tell if this will happen in Cleveland. So far it is not something I have seen much of, but this is a start.

University Circle Inc. unveils plans for Lot 45, a key element of the Uptown development - Architecture and the Urban Landscape - Cleveland.com

[tribecavsbrowns]

Originally Posted by Chef Boyardee

As a matter of fact, bus passes are subsidized by The Federal Government. In fact, public transportation was nationalized in American, iirc, in The 1970s. Since then, we see our tax dollars wasted on one hundred thousand dollar bus shelters and lots of bus routes that are barely used. Even now, a huge and terribly expensive public transportation project is underway on Euclid avenue. It amounts to a "White Elephant"

Why bring that up? Well, our government spends tons of our money on stupid crap just like that. In the end, it causes Inflation. What we see as Inflation is just the tip of the iceberg.

In our economy, Productivity gains should be producing lower prices and higher wages. On average that should amount to about a 3% annual reduction in prices. That Economy makes "everyone" rich! So, what's going wrong???

Well, our government spends tons of money on social programs, like public transportation, section 8 housing, food stamps, Medicare, Social Security, etc, etc. It spends so much darn money on these programs, that it even has to borrow (trillions) just to get by. That folks, causes so much Inflation that it eats up our Productivity Gains and adds, on average since the 1960s, 4% annually to prices. Hence, you can say, our average annual rate of "Inflation" since 1960 has been 7%.

Don't forget the phony war.