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Automotive News & Views Are gas prices fueling your pain? 
10042 messages, Last post on Jul 12, 2008 at 3:07 PM
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Replying to: 1stpik (Jan 17, 2008 5:46 pm) I've got to believe there are very expensive, small properties(condos) in NYC that have a low incidence of crime. I think that crime rates are more a function of economic conditions. Bring affluent people into the inner-city and you will see a lower crime rate. |
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Replying to: lemko (Jan 17, 2008 5:41 am) I don't know. I used a home equity loan to buy my new car because I could deduct the interest from my taxes this way. I don't consider myself stupid. It was a calculated decision on money I would have spent anyway. But I do agree with the thinking that you should never tap into your equity for frivolous things like vacations and such. Everybody should live slightly below their means.
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Replying to: 1stpik (Jan 17, 2008 6:14 pm) Something classy about your pizza rolling up in a 79 Newport. Almost as good as having the limo driver go get the pizza. You would not want to stink up the limo with garlic and anchovy smells though.
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Replying to: chuckhoy (Jan 17, 2008 8:37 pm) That may not be the best way to do it as HELOC usually have a much higher interest rate than new car loans and the taxes saved usually don't make up the difference.
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Replying to: 1stpik (Jan 17, 2008 6:14 pm) Ecosystems have been destroyed and reborn for millenium without our Newports. It's nothing new, and since man is natural, any ecosystems we destroy is natural too.  I hear the area around Mt. St. Helene's is recovering nicely.
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Replying to: 1stpik (Jan 17, 2008 5:46 pm) Did everybody move to the suburbs because the cities became crime-infested hell holes or did the cities become crime-infested hell holes because everybody ran away to the suburbs? I think the flight of the middle class to the suburbs greatly contributed to the decline of cities. Those left behind are mostly poor and can't afford to leave the city or very wealthy and can live in the most exclusive neighborhoods. Well, $3/gallon gas might be the savior of cities as people start moving back into the cities. I don't know how you suburbanites can deal with those hellish commutes without going psycho let alone the insane price of fuel. |
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Replying to: kernick (Jan 18, 2008 5:07 am) If as science tells us that 95% of all flora and fauna that has existed on earth is now extinct, why the big push to try and change evolution? Species come and go, why sweat the snail darter or some goofy owl? It is only a sign of man's ignorance to try and change what he has NO power to change. I watched some mortals in 1990 trying to divert the lava flow on Hawaii. They thought they could protect some homes and an old church. They moved the church and most of the homes were destroyed. What is man, that thinks he can subvert nature?
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Replying to: gagrice (Jan 17, 2008 9:46 pm)
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Replying to: lemko (Jan 18, 2008 5:52 am) I think it just moves the problems to a different area of the city. I know they have renovated many older buildings in downtown San Diego. They are all expensive condos. You can buy a lot of $4 gas for the $400k plus difference in price. There is an interesting situation taking place in the worst part of San Diego. Yuppies have started buying up these old homes and renovating or rebuilding. This has pushed the poor residents out to the deteriorating suburbs. Hard to find fixer in San Diego city under $350k now.
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Replying to: snakeweasel (Jan 18, 2008 4:57 am) When I did my HELOC back in early 2005, it started at 5.5%, which seemed reasonable. In my tax bracket, I figure the "real" rate was about 3.75%. Unfortunately, the Fed started playing around with interest rates, and a year and a half later I was up to 8.5%. I'm down to 7.5%, which the tax break probably brings down to about 5.2%. Right now my credit union is offering 5.4% on a car loan. 5.05% if you do 3 years or less. And I'm sure I could do better than that, especially with some of the fire sale financing the domestics are doing. One area where HELOCs can get dangerous is that you only have to pay the interest portion each month for the first 10 years or so. And if you stay on good terms with them, they'll draw that out further. So a $20,000 car, put on an HELOC at 7.5%, would only be $125 per month. In contrast, my Intrepid, of which I financed about that much, was $347.66 at 0.9%, for 60 months. So that low monthly payment can be seductive...until you realize that you're paying on it forever and not getting anywhere! In my case, I'm trying to pay my HELOC down as fast as I can, although with the rates dropping, and possibly dropping again soon depending on what the Fed does, I might slack up on that and put the money to other uses.
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