December 2005 Archives

Tue Dec 27 18:34:50 CET 2005

House prices and Wealth

Like everybody, I hear a lot about house prices going up and stuff. People in my office who have bought some time ago are usually very happy because prices have soared, so they feel richer. People who haven't bought yet want to, so they can become rich too.

It all feels a little weird. The only thing that can make you rich is your salary going up, or successful speculation. When house prices go up, most people get poorer (read again: poorer).

I see 3 scenarios:

  • You don't own anything. The higher prices go, the least you can afford if you bought a house. In the extreme, you get to a point where you can't buy anything. So a higher price means you can afford less: prices going up make you poorer.
  • You own the house you live in. Its value is going up. That doesn't make you richer until you sell, it's the same as stock market speculation so far. Usually, you'll sell to buy something else, that's bigger (or closer to the city centre or whatever).As prices go up, so does the difference between properties: suppose your house was worth originally 100,000EUR, and the new house you want to buy was worth 150,000EUR. Prices went up 20%, so you're happy because your house is now worth 120,000EUR. However, you're forgetting that the house you want to buy as gone up 20% to 180,000EUR: you'll need to spend 10,000EUR more to buy that house after prices went up. Prices going up made you poorer.
  • You own a house that you rent out. This is the only case where house prices going up will make you any money: sell! You're now richer, and a speculator too. At the end of the day, house prices going up is the same as inflation: if your salary doesn't follow, inflation makes you poorer. -----

    • Posted by WhiteRabbit | Permanent Link | Categories: Thoughts | Comments

    Mon Dec 26 21:26:18 CET 2005

    Where do babies come from?

    Turns out that Life is a STD.

    Think about it: First, your parents (presumably) had sex. Then you caught life. You've been sick ever since. At some point, you're gonna die from it.

    And, there is no known cure. -----


    Posted by WhiteRabbit | Permanent Link | Categories: Non-sensical ramblings | Comments

    lun déc 26 17:53:54 CET 2005

    YAB (Yet Another Blog)

    Right-ho, here's my blog. I'm starting a blog because a few days ago, I was telling my wife about some idea I had, and she told me I should write a blog. I am still wondering if she thinks my ideas are worth sharing with others, or if she's just sick of my babbling, and there is only one way to find out: write up my ideas on a blog, and see if many people read it. If no-one reads it, then it'll mean she must be sick of my babbling.

    So a first blog entry should be about which blog software to use. A quick search through the internet suggests that many blogs use Typepad and Over-blog. My problem with the first one is that it wants me to pay (no way), and my problem with the second one is that it's free. Basically, it reminds me of Web hosting 8 years ago: free service would usually get bad (slow, or ad-ridden), and I think $5 a month is extortionnate. So I'll want to host my own blog.

    Now, what do I want from a blog?

    The usual: easy to learn interface (easy for me -- that's probably not the same thing as easy for you), easy to install, easy to backup (data that's not backed up should be considered lost), being able to use a text editor of my choice is a must (I'll babble about user interfaces some day, but let me tell you this: an interface that forces a text editor on a user is not a good interface, full stop) and being able to post via e-mail would be nice.

    Funnily enough, there doesn't seem to be that many blog packages around. The operating system I use is Debian, and it seems the only blog software available there is Nanoblog. So there, I'll use Nanoblog: it seems to have a nice interface, lets me use the editor of my choice, and hopefully I'll be able to easily extend it to support getting new posts through e-mail. -----


    Posted by Yves Rutschle | Permanent Link | Categories: Tech | Comments