Michael’s Two Cents

I ran across this little post on Inhabitat via materialicious this morning. I’m glad more people are beginning to think that less (consumption) is more (freedom). It’s too bad it’s taken the worst recession since the great depression for many people to figure it out.
I don’t think boycotting the holidays is the answer though. Why [...]

I got another email on my home’s value from Zillow.com this morning and it shows the curve making a turn upward! These numbers could simply be a market fluctuation due to a temporary increase in home sales. It is fall after all, a traditional time to make last minute moves before the school year begins. [...]

I get a newsletter from Zillow.com regularly with an update on local home values. There has been no good news for a long time, home values continue to drop here in California. Below is a chart that shows the most recent numbers. When you add this to the overall outlook for the economy it looks [...]

Just kidding… but this video is really funny. Pretty much everything joked about in the video is true. The Canadian government makes it really easy for professionals to move to Canada. It is cold but not too bad in parts of British Columbia. I’m not sure right now is a good time to move though, [...]

I was filling up our truck today and snapped the photo on the right. The photo on the left was taken a couple months ago when gas prices were a bit higher. Today I found myself thinking…
“Hey… Only $3.41 a gallon… Cool!”
And then I snapped back to reality. I don’t believe in conspiracy theories any [...]

I should probably unsubscribe from the monthly house value report from Zillow.com, it’s just so depressing. As you can see I’m down another $5000 and almost back to where I started 5 years ago. Now maybe you’ll understand why I’m building a free house. Now imagine the people that bought at the top. Now imagine [...]

“America must commit to producing 100% of our electricity from cheap, clean renewable energy sources like solar and wind within 10 years.” - Al Gore
Remember this isn’t just government and corporations taking action… this is every one of us kicking our oil addiction. It won’t be easy but 10 years is doable if we each [...]

I’m actually fairly handy and know how to build and make stuff. I’m also a do-it-yourself-er to a fault. So my solution to the mortgage nightmare many of us are beginning to see come to our neck of the woods is to make my house bigger and better as frugally as I can.
Before you take [...]

Have you seen the latest news on the home mortgage crisis? Check out this disturbing article. Here are a couple quotes that pretty much sum it up.
“That marks the first time homeowners debt on their houses exceeds their equity since the Fed started tracking the data in 1945.”
And…
“Moody’s Economy.com estimates that 8.8 million homeowners, or [...]