Cesar comes to my street!

I knew the closing of Le Boulanger could bring a good thing!

Of course, I'll be eating tapas in the real Spain soon. :)

Giving inmates the keys?

Letting developers control sprawl? That's laughable.

Developers have absolutely no incentive to control sprawl. Developers don't care. They're in it to make money, quick hits and then out. Why would anybody think any different?

A cooldown, part two

Long in coming, slow to arrive, but this may eventually put a necessary chill on the market. I'm not looking to buy any time soon, though.

A mortgage-rate cooldown

Rates for 30-year fixed mortgage loans have hit 6 percent and are expected to climb higher.

I'd like to say I smell housing correction in the air, but it's just too soon to tell.

Suze weighs in

A lengthy cautionary tome. Worth the read.

She's really not saying anything I haven't thought or heard before, but she's Suze Orman and people are more willing to listen. And fact is, she's right. If the only way you can afford to buy is interest-only, hold the phone and keep the lease.

Thanks to Catherine for the link.

I just hope the people who need to read this will do so.

My home has a blog

Blogging to sell houses seems to be getting popular. This one in San Antonio has apparently been on the market for a while. Here in Ye Beautiful Bay Area, you could've sold a $400,000 coffin with street-only parking ten times over in that time.

Missing the hookers, the hustlers, the trannies

In San Francisco, gentrification is seen by some as close to death. Such looks to be the case in the now-not-as-much-so-seedy Polk Gulch.

"Better a teacher in Omaha than an Upper East Side internist"

It's all about affordability as translated into income versus housing prices. Interesting read.

Girls Gone Wild goes real estate

Would it be cynical to say this doesn't surprise me?

One of the more interesting parts of the article is that an estimated 500 of the 4000 licensed Realtors in New Orleans are expected to quit or relocate. A dearth of Realtors ... now there's a new one.

Smart Growth America

This site is worth a read.

I haven't gone through enough to see what it's all about, but a refocusing on community and against sprawl is a good thing, no?

When 8000 sq ft is a teardown

Peoplesoft founder David Duffield is using his share of the $11.1 Billion sale of the company to Oracle to build a little shack in Alamo. A consolation prize for the hostile takeover, it will be bigger than the White House and Hearst Castle (not to mention Larry's and Bill's, if he can get it approved.

Some of the neighbors don't want to live in the shadow of whatever monstrosity Duffield is planning, but some are excited about what the montrosity will do to their property values. Priorities, I guess!

Home is where the hell is

Are you a Realtor working from home? Think you've got the most nightmarish professional setup around? Check this site out.

Personally, I love my home office. No water cooler, the freedom to blast Bon Jovi at a moment's notice, a slew of great restaurants and coffee shops just around the corner. But my snoring tabby cat -- also known as HR -- can be tough when it comes to vacations.

More bloggy

Landa's previous employer has a blog. Who knew?