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Happy St. Patrick’s Day — so where’s the (corned) beef? And kissing the stone.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day — so where’s the (corned) beef? And kissing the stone.
Corned beef and cabbage is as Irish as it gets, right? Wrong. You might be surprised to learn that this traditional Irish dish is more American than Irish. “This is an American creation,” one Irish-born friend recently told me. And after browsing the Google Library, I discovered she was right. In a survey of Irish radio listeners, not one mentioned corned beef and cabbage as their main dish for “The Day”. In fact, one listener said it perhaps best of all….”Eat? I eat pints,” and referred jocularly to the pint of Guinness as a “shamrock sandwich”. And green beer is purely American. But who cares? Go enjoy your green beer and corned beef and cabbage anyway.
Another bit of Blarney. There is Blarney Castle, County Cork, Ireland, which is home to the famous Blarney Stone located on the castle grounds. Nearly 600,000 visitors trek to the Castle — which was formed in the 11th century — to kiss the Blarney Stone each year — which means one will never be ‘lost for words’. Because the Irish love words, the Blarney Stone will remain a national treasure.
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The Scorecard….UCLA Anderson predicts no recession. But it depends.
If you happened to see the latest economic forecast from UCLA’s Anderson School of Business (uclaforecast.com), you will be happy to learn that in their opinion, we are not headed for a recession, although you may have heard otherwise. According to the school’s two senior economists, Ryan Ratcliff and Jerry Nickelsburg, Southern California’s economy, while experiencing difficulty in the real estate-related sectors, is still strong in other areas. “”The current state of the California economy and our forecast fall short of the weakness in previous historical episodes that we’ve chosen to label recessions,” Ratcliff and Nickelsburg wrote.”Based on comparing the current economy to past recession episodes, we once again conclude that real estate weakness will remain a significant drag on the economy, leaving us treading water in 2008 — but not slipping under the waves into recession.” Both of them mention that they know they are swimming upstream and that their opinions are contrary to others, but they have stuck their necks out before and have proven to be correct.. Let’s hope they are again.
Credit losses in the mortgage industry will continue to affect us according the UCLA Forecast, and while we’re not headed for a recession, we will have a weak 2008. Am I a ‘Pollyanna’? Yes and no.
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The other side of the Coin……..
According to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, about 54 % of the CFO’s that were interviewed by Duke University/CFO magazine feel that the US in already in a recession… So what is the actual definition of a recession?
Definition: A recession is defined to be a period of two quarters of negative GDP growth. Thus: a recession is a national or world event, by definition. And statistical aberrations or one-time events can almost never create a recession; e.g. if there were to be movement of economic activity (measured or real) around Jan 1, 2000, it could create the appearance of only one quarter of negative growth. For a recession to occur the real economy must decline. Definition: A recession is defined to be a period of two quarters of negative GDP growth.
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Let’s see what is happening in our neighborhoods?
Market is picking up steam…CB Brentwood Court office sales are up for February.
We actually may get some rain this weekend after experiencing many wonderful, sunny Southern California days of ‘perfect weather’. Yes, we are blessed with not only good weather, but we also have escaped many of the downturns in the real estate market other areas are experiencing. Nothing is more personal than what is going on in my real estate office and in my ‘career’ as a Realtor. And there is good news. January sales volume for our Brentwood Court office for Coldwell Banker was up nearly 25% in January over 2007 27 sales in ’07 vs. 17 in ’08 (one of the Feb sales was for $15,000,000); and February was another outstanding month, with sales up another 25% over the same period last year ( 28 un 2007 and 35 in 2008). In a review of the weekly ‘caravan’ tour of Westside homes on Wednesday, we all perked up — there were multiple offers on nearly half of the 25 listings that agents in my office had seen this past Tuesday. This is a welcomed change for sellers, and it indicates that there is renewed energy in the marketplace. There is a pent-up demand for homes that are well priced and meet their needs — they are going for it. If not, discerning buyers are staying away in droves.
With interest rates on the rise (slightly), home buyers are reluctant to keep waiting for the market to flatten (or even go down) because they can’t afford higher rates, especially with the credit tightening going on. Seeing a noticeable bump in sales is a sign of strength for our Westside real estate market.
But, frankly speaking, nothing hits closer to home than how “I” am doing”. A real estate professional for nearly 25 years, I was a bit worried about my own success at the beginning of the year. In 2007, I had a spectacular start — one of the best in my career — only to find a slow second half. So, when I trailed last year’s ‘ start, my accountant reminded me: “Carole, your performing at the rate that will make 2008 an even better year overall. You’re doing great.” I needed that.
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Green Tip for the Day: Tired of getting catalogs from companies you don’t want/need?
Here is a web site that handles this for you. Go to: www.catalogchoice.org — Select from an alphabetically list and indicate which catalog you don’t want to receive. Warning: This will take some time, because the list is very long. Does it work? Yes it does…. It just takes a bit of time and maintenance to do through. . This option has already cut down on the number of catalogs I get at home. If it doesn’t work, you may have to call the company specifically and tell them directly. Good luck!
