More than 90 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds say buying a home is their biggest goal in life, a survey shows.
According to the NAB survey, buying a home is better than world travel, having a family or volunteering - in that order.
Almost 80 per cent of 25- to 34-year-olds also put bricks and mortar near the top of their list, just behind seeing more of the world.
The research also showed that younger generations tended to have more goals and aspirations than their parents and grandparents.
While many young people list owning their own home as their number one goal it is still just one of many that they want to achieve during their lifetime.
People aged 16 to 24 tend to have about five big life goals while those in other age groups averaged two goals.
Other insights from the NAB Big Life Survey include Queenslanders listing overseas travel and owning their own home among their biggest goals in life.
Compared to other states Queenslanders were also most likely to list buying the car of their dreams.
Compared to other states, South Australians were the least likely to list a huge adventure, such as climbing Mt Everest, as one of their big goals in life.
The top three goals for South Australians included seeing more of the world, volunteering and owning their own home.
West Australians were among those most likely to list having a family among their big life goals but still listed overseas travel, volunteering and owning their own home before having children.
Victorians and Tasmanians were most likely to want to travel when compared against other states.
People in NSW tended to share the nation's top goals with travel, volunteering and home ownership heading the list.
Pulled from the comments made by "boomtime" on . We edited slightly and added property links so everyone is on the same page.
I call it the way I see it. It is an incredible Boomtime now, and I can’t wait to get my bonus this year. I have never experienced such a tight labor market, and salaries and bonuses are reaching new record highs. Imagine a 23 yr old, 1 yr out of school, clearing $115,000 in total compensation? Now, imagine the legions of more experienced people in my industry, and what they are getting paid. It is not uncommon for a 28 year old to get paid $300,000 and a 32 year old to get paid $500,000+. This is the prime demographic of home buyers in SF. Add a spouse, and you get another $50,000 AT LEAST + income.
anyone? In contract after one Sunday open house for $1.495 million purchased last year for $1.025 mil with a $200K remodel.
2255 Steiner St.[we think you mean ], a 2/2 asking $1.498 mil at under 1,500sqft with no view. Impressive! I bet it gets into contract by another $500,000/yr couple.
, a 2/2 in contract for $1.525 mil. Who’s buying this?
, a 3/2 in contract for over $1.55 mil, purchased for $1.20 mil a couple yrs ago? Who’s buying this?
, a 2/2 in contract for $1.595 mil, who’s buying this?
, a 3/2, 1700sqft place with $775/month HOAs… who’s buying this?
, a 3/2 in contract for $1.799+ mil. Nice location, lower unit. Who’s buying this?
The list goes on, and on and on. I’ve never seen so much strength in th $1.3 and higher condo market. Personally, I would look to buy a Single Family Home over a condo in this price range, but maybe these buyers just want simplicity?
The key is LOCATION and distinction of the property. Think about the best properties sitting atop a pyramid. The base, which is demand, gets wider and wider due to rising incomes, inflation, population=demand, as the supply remains fixed. Think of fine art appreciating over time. Same thing, and that’s why I’m amazed people are plunking down $1,000sqft+ for new properties in SOMA where there is an endless supply, and NEW becomes NOT NEW in 5 years. People start screaming the market is falling when a SOMA condo gets reduced. I’m just giddy because prices there, in my opinion, should be no more than $600/sqft, yet people are paying $800-1,600sqft.
Finally, I have met an incredible amount of people in SF who have help from Mom & Dad. Even kids in their late 20’s and older are getting help from Bank of Mom & Dad. Heck, on my block there are two 26 yr old kids living at home with Grandma! One underestimates the wealth in SF.
If you have thoughts or ideas you'd like to share, feel free to comment on this post, or you can also us your thoughts, or submit them anonymously via our . Either way, we appreciate all the participation from our and growing number of readers thus far. Keep spreading the word! And thanks for reading.
[Because we posted this on the front page, doesn't mean we agree or disagree with the statements made. We simply think it provides an open door to all kinds of topics to discuss/debate.]
How's the Real Estate Market? Here's a snapshot of the local real estate market based on experience from Coldwell Banker's S.F. Bay Area offices
Coldwell Banker Weekly Market Watch Week of July 22, 2007
The media enjoyed a field day with the real estate industry this week in attempting to analyze major reports issued by N.A.R. and the Commerce Department regarding the nationwide housing market.Combined with subprime lending issues and Wall Street’s wobbly performance, most reporters took the easy route of predicting doom and gloom, and a longer downturn for real estate on a national front.
The media forgot, however, to mention a few key points which indicate that this is an excellent time to buy real estate, and savvy sellers are reaping the rewards.Regarding issues with lending, the simple fact is that lenders are more than happy to lend money to people who can afford to borrow it.Standards for documented income, assets and cash flow have become stricter, but rates remain relatively low.Additionally, when Wall Street suffers from volatility, people tend to cash out of the stock market and reinvest in real estate.
Median home sales prices in the Bay Area have remained steady, or increased in most areas, and our luxury market continues to thrive.However some buyers are unfortunately being influenced by negative media reports and seem to be waiting for prices to drop precipitously.In the Bay Area overall however, prices on solid homes in desirable neighborhoods will only continue to rise.Where inventory is low such as in the City and on the Peninsula, the competition among buyers is still pretty fierce.Sellers in almost all Bay Area communities who price their homes at, or slightly below, market price and are properly preparing their homes for showing are selling competitively and at a steady pace.
The proof is in the numbers.Of the offices reporting, listing inventory remained steady for 15.It increased for four offices and decreased for seven, showing that inventory is steady or dropping in more than three-quarters of our offices.Sales activity remained steady for 13 offices, increased for seven and decreased in only six.
A Palo Alto property received 13 offers.In many of San Francisco’s ratified sales for the week, multiple offers of 3 to 4 per listing were still common.Our Menlo Park/ El Camino Avenue office reports that every one of their sales for the week were in multiple offer situations.Our offices combined reported more than 70 listings receiving multiple offers for the week.
The higher-end homes are in short supply in most areas.The Walnut Creek office alone sold five homes last week that were each priced in excess of $1.2 million.In San Francisco and the Peninsula, we’ve been saying for quite some time that “Two Million is the new One Million”. Now it appears that may be said additionally in the East Bay and other greater Bay Area markets.
When reading front-page reports of the National housing outlook, our Buyers need to be reminded that real estate is local.Media-influenced buyer resistance is an unfortunate result from the reporting of national economic data.In most parts of the Bay Area real estate market, waiting for prices to drop isn’t the smartest thing to do. Investing during a lull in interest rate hikes and pricing is.
This written by Mr. Amado Macasaet, justifiably questions the simple fact as to why did the Heirs of Barque only claim the land (owned, occupied, and in-possession of the Manotok Family for 85 years) 9 very long years after the original certificate of title (of the Manotoks) was burned in the Quezon City Hall fire in 1988?
It is also important to note that the reason as to why they are called as "Heirs of Barque" is simply because the person whom the Heirs of Barque claim to own the land is Homer Barque (Sr.) who, while he was still alive, never even set foot on the property or never even claimed that the property was his. It is only the "Heirs of Homer Barque" who say that their father owned the property of the Manotoks. But why did Mr. Homer Barque never claim it was his when he was alive?Why did Mr. Homer Barque never set foot on the property while he was alive?
It is quite obvious that the "Heirs of Homer Barque" are taking advantage of Mr. Homer Barque being dead, most likely, if he were still alive, he would never claim the Manotok property which his "Heirs" are claiming. This is an obvious scam created with some outrageous "Heirs of Barque" story.
Sitting on one’s rights
Obviously, the law punishing a person or denying his rights for sitting on them too long does not apply in land disputes. Otherwise, the Court of Appeals would have thrown out the petition for reconstitution of the alleged title of the heirs of Homer Barque over a 34-hectare property in Quezon City.
The heirs of Homer Barque, represented by Teresita Barque Hernandez, woke up to discover their title or rights over the land, long occupied and titled in the name of the Manotok family, nine years after the original certificate of title was burned in the Quezon City Hall fire in 1988.
The presumption is the heirs of Homer Barque knew all along that they are rich, having a property with a present estimated value of more than P5 billion. Why they decided to be less than rich when they are sitting on huge wealth is a question the Supreme Court did not give too much value to.
The heirs of Barque were sitting on their rights far too long and it took a fire in the register of deeds in Quezon City for them to ask for a reconstitution of the title the duplicate of which they claimed they have.
The argument of the Manotoks that the heirs of Homer Barque never set foot on the land was also ignored by the Land Registration Authority, Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court.
The tribunal ruled that the title of the Manotoks was sham and spurious.
By whose word? The Land Registration Commission which earlier supported the Manotoks but changed the decision in favor of the Barque. The thing happened in the Court of Appeals.
The RTC’s jurisdiction
None of these would have ever come to pass had the LRA, the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court saw fit to comply with the inescapable necessity of a law that says that judicial reconstitution of titles is an exclusive and original function of the Regional Trial Court.
Even the Supreme Court did not find it necessary to remand the case to the RTC saying the process is time-consuming and unnecessary since the title of the Manotoks had been established to be sham and spurious.
The key question is who established these "facts"? The wrong agencies such as the land Registration Authority which was sustained by the Court of Appeals which in turn was affirmed by the Supreme Court.
The Manotoks filed a memorandum of reconsideration twice. The Supreme Court denied it twice.
Pending before the court for which orals were held on July 24 was the petition of the heirs of Homer Barque to order the register of deeds of Quezon City to transfer the titles of the Manotoks to the heirs of Barque.
I never commented on that beyond saying that the schedule for five oral arguments were postponed until the sixth was held on Tuesday, July 24.
Self-established facts
The allegation, affirmed by the Supreme Court, that the title of the Manotoks was sham and spurious, was "established" by the Land Registration Authority which, as earlier said, had initially considered the titles as genuine.
The LRA changed its mind. That forced the Manotoks to file an appeal to the Court of Appeals. From what I can understand, the appeal automatically elevated the question to a judicial reconstitution, not administrative in the hands of the LRA.
It is here that the Court of Appeals which also initially agreed that the Manotok title was genuine might have made the mistake of ignoring a law that judicial reconstitution is an original and exclusive function of the regional trial court. In which case, the CA should have remanded the case to the RTC.
A division in the Supreme Court made the same mistake by ruling that since the titles of the Manotoks have been established as sham and spurious, there was no need to remand the case to the regional trial court as required by law. That could be time-consuming and unnecessary, according to the decision of the majority in the division headed by Associate Justice Consuelo Ynares Santiago.
RTC should establish the facts
The alleged facts relied upon by the Supreme Court in ruling in favor of heirs of Homer Barque were not judicially established although the case is one of judicial reconstitution.
In which case, according to the law, the regional trial court has exclusive and original jurisdiction.
The RTC is the venue that should have established the facts by examining documents and hearing the testimonies of witnesses, not the LRA whose administrative function is to approve or deny a petition for reconsideration.
Therefore, the case having become one of judicial reconstitution, the LRA has lost jurisdiction over the dispute.
It would have been automatically assumed by the regional trial court if the LRA had said so. But it did not. Neither did the Court of Appeals. Neither did the Supreme Court.
The SC ruled that the titles of the Manotoks are sham and spurious as established by the LRA and affirmed by the Court of Appeals.
I would have kept my peace if the conclusion that the Manotok titles are sham and spurious was established by the Regional Trial Court as required by law.
Jurisprudence
The 38-page dissent of Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio complete with four pages of bibliography contends that the jurisprudence long established by the Supreme Court was inapplicable.
Justice Consuelo Ynares Santiago in ponecia declared that it is.
Whether it is or it is not, does not depart from the law that the regional trial court has original and exclusive jurisdiction over the case.
Which is saying that if the law had been observed, it would be easier to believe that the RTC had ruled that the jurisprudence is applicable or inapplicable.
Of course the Supreme Court can determine which jurisprudence is applicable and which is not.
But we would have had the comfort of knowing the regional trial determined which jurisprudence is applicable.
The comfort is drawn from the fact the law giving the regional trial court exclusive and original jurisdiction was not skipped. In which I personally would not mind if the Supreme Court had ruled in favor of the heirs of Homer Barque, like it did, with finality.
It’s a case of dura lex sed lex which the LRA, the Court of Appeals completely closed their eyes to.
Manotoks, land grabbers?
After I wrote the first item on this case, a lawyer-friend called me up and told me that I got the facts all wrong. I then told him to write me a summary of what is right.
He never did. Instead, he told me that the Manotoks are the biggest land grabbers in Metro Manila. I countered that is subject to proof.
In the present case, who is the land grabber? Is it the Manotoks who have a Torrens title to the property which they have been occupying and paying taxes on since ‘1923 or the heirs of Homer Barque who woke up to discover their rights nine years after their alleged original copy of the title was lost in a fire in 1988?
They suddenly came up with a duplicate copy of the original which they wanted reconstituted.
If I were one of the heirs of Barque, I would have taken possession of the 34-hectare property long before the copy of the original title was burned. That would have given me oodles and oodles of money and saved me from the current sticky litigation.
That, to my lawyer friend, makes the Manotoks, the biggest land grabber in Metro Manila.
From the page
Is the second home market a buy or a bust? The simple answer is a buy! The second home market has typically been mostly buyers that are baby boomers, as they continue to drive the market in second homes. They are at a point in their lives when they’re at the peak of their earnings and with interest rates still historically low, they want to diversify their earnings. The National Association of Realtors contends that 41% of vacation-home buyers have purchased second homes for vacations, 31% to use as a family retreat and 28% to diversify investments.
How has the second home market changed? The speculative investors who came into the market, were trying to make a “quick buck” and were buying multiple properties, were distorting the market numbers, and thus are not as prevalent. Some of the inventory left over from the investors have softened some of the secondary home market.
So, is the second home market a “bust?” Not really. Sales of this market are expected to stay strong for years, due to the fact that the youngest of the baby boomers are only 42 years old. The typical buyer for a second home is about 52 years old and has a gross income of about $85,000 according to NAR. As the younger Baby Boomers age, they will be a steady pool of buyers for the next ten years. Many of the second home buyers want to have something they can hand down to their kids or if necessary, use it as a rainy day fund.
From the page
Here is another excerpt from Mutual Fund Mastery (Time Business 1997). I thought this would be timely in light of recent stock market volatility.
The Laws Of Investment Success
There are laws of investing that have worked for many, many years. They are simple and straightforward. We call them the Laws of Investment Success.Investment professionals have known and practiced these techniques for many years without necessarily spelling them out.
No one taught us these laws, nor did we invent them. We think of them as signposts from past investors. We utilize them every day to make money for our clients. When we have lost sight of them, it has usually been to our–and our clients’–regret. We are hoping that you can learn and profit from the mistakes we made and the experiences we have had in the 12 years since we started managing money with no-load mutual funds.
The First Law Of Investing:Invest for a minimum of 20 years.
We know what you are thinking, ‘I don’t have 20 years to wait.’ The fact is, though, you’re probably wrong. Not only do you have an investment horizon of 20 years, in fact, if you are like most people, your horizon extends well over 50 years. Once you accept the first law, two things will happen:
• Your investment decisions will improve.
• You will sleep more soundly.
Invest for 20 years? Sounds a bit extreme, doesn’t it?…Let’s say you are 50 years old today. Happy birthday! Let’s say your husband or wife is also 50. Assuming you are in good health, one of you is likely to live to age 85 (35 years from now). Then let’s talk about children. Each generation tacks on about 25 more years to the planning. So, your investment horizon could easily be 60 years (35 years for you and/or your spouse plus 25 years for your children). And that does not include grandchildren.
Don’t have a wife or husband or children? What about brothers, sisters, nieces, or nephews? What about charities you believe in? What about world peace? In other words, almost everyone has a very long investment time horizon. For most, it is well over 50 years.
But just to mollify the skeptic in you, we will shorten it, not to 45 or 35 or even 30 years. We’ll shorten it to 20 years and help you develop a plan that maximizes your investment return for that period of time…’
I hope that advice–invest for at least 20 years–resonated with you. If you are very concerned about recent stock market fluctuations, can I persuade you to change your perspective a bit and extend it to 20 or even 50 years?
If you can do that, your investment results are likely to become both better and less stressful. And, assuming you have a solid portfolio of mutual funds with reasonable diversification, then you need not worry about short-term market fluctuations.
And, when you stop worrying, you can focus on the things that really matter–to you.
As the real world readily approaches us collegiate and post-collegiate individuals, the search for a great job seems to be as elusive as the lost-dryer-sock. , though occasionally helpful, is fraught
with fraudulent posting, false promises, and abundant opportunities to sell your body. However, if you aspire to become a personal escort, or do a job for "worthwhile contacts" who are just so worthwhile that they cannot pay you, this is your website.
I recently stumbled upon a reputable source of jobs for big names in publishing, PR, arts & design, and new media. Ironically, it's part of a blog. It provides you with both your daily dose of snark and the potential for career advancement. Ladies, gents, hermaphrodites, and plant life: .
Also, for those interested in NYC real estate I have found a great deal of luck from . Please feel free to contact me for more information about the cheery agent who helped us find an apartment with AC and internet. Did I mention AC and internet? Without those, life would be creating a whole new ring of hell right now. AC and heat are crucial for NY summers and winters, unless you want your heated/cooled towel to be your bedmate for the entire season.
P.S. Yes, Towelie, I still love you. Please don't cry... (you're woefully less plushy and absorbent that way...)
