| North vs South: Waiting to make the move may change your view |
| Thursday, 01 February 2007 |
The housing market is no great shakes anywhere at the moment, and those who have been sitting on the sidelines waiting for prices to moderate in retirement friendly places like Florida and the rest of the southeast may feel their time is coming...unless they live, say, in the northeast.
We are quite familar with a number of golfing communities in the southeast, and annual price appreciations in some locations in the Carolinas and Georgia, for example, remain in the mid-to-high single digits. Those near-retirees in the northeast who see a future life in the south may want to consider fast-forwarding their plans. According to the New England Economic Partnership, a forecast organization, housing prices are essentially going nowhere fast in the northeast over the next four to five years.
Prices in Massachusetts, which had fallen for six straight months as of the end of November, will continue to fall into 2008 before leveling off into the end of the decade, according to the NEEP. No other state in New England is expected so see home appreciations of more than 2.7% annually between now and 2010. If you consider that your house provides a roof over your head, then a 1% or 2% annual appreciation is not so bad. But consider that prices in retirement magnets like Charleston, SC, and Albuquerque, NM, appreciated 4% and 5% respectively in just the 2nd quarter of 2006, buoyed not only by boomers moving south but also by some Floridians who were tired of traffic and longing for a short but palpable winter.
In short, every year a northerner defers selling her home and buying one in the south means an erosion of buying power and eventually settling for less house. Stated another way, today the waterfront view, next year the golf course, the year after that the woods.
Read more...
|
| Our first call for comment: What do you know about Eagle Pointe? |
| Thursday, 01 February 2007 |
Just as I was checking out of a bed and breakfast in Wilmington, NC, recently after a research trip that included enjoyable rounds of golf at Porter's Neck and the Nicklaus course at Landfall, the proprietor asked me if I had visited Eagle Pointe. I hadn't, nor had I even heard of it. He indicated it was "super private" and built five years ago by a few equities traders from "up north" who wanted a course where they knew they could always get a tee time, even at the last minute. So they built Eagle Pointe.
Internet searches have turned up only cursory information -- the course was designed by Tom Fazio and plays up to 7,170 yards -- but the club remains shrouded in a little mystery. Anyone played it? Anyone know anything more about it? Please post any comments below, and thanks.
Read more...
|
| You can "belong" to more than 150 clubs for the price of one |
| Thursday, 01 February 2007 |
More than 150 golf clubs across the land, including my own Hop Meadow Country Club in Simsbury, CT, have signed on to the Private Club Network, making these otherwise private clubs accessible to each other's members. The Network is the invention of Creative Golf Marketing, a Manhattan, Kansas firm that helps private clubs increase membership. If I am traveling to, say, Nashville, as I will soon, I can arrange for a round of golf at the private Brentwood Country Club; all I pay is the mandatory $25 cart fee.
The web site for the Private Club Network is www.privateclubnetwork.com. Unless you belong to a private club, it may be a little tricky to register to see the Network's list of private clubs. But they do have an 800 number and offer email contact as well.
If you live in the area of one of the Network's clubs and do a lot of traveling, you might want to consider membership in the local club.
Read more...
|
| Just can't wait for the Super Bowl ... to be over |
| Thursday, 01 February 2007 |
Like virtually eveyone else, I'll watch the Super Bowl on Sunday night, if for no other reason than to be sure it will truly be over (in the way the Transylvanian townspeople needed to be absolutely sure Dracula was dead). As of today, the hype machine was really scraping the bottom of the barrel, with a TV feature on Super Bowl rings of the last 40 years among other irrelevancies.
I want my sports section back. It will be good to be reminded sometime next week that pitchers and catchers report in less than two weeks, and that the Master's is just two months away.
I am praying for the Colts to win and for Peyton to have the game of his life. How much more psychoanalysis of choking can we stand?
The Big Game is an excuse to bet once a year and eat food that is bad for you. Not that you asked, but the Bears will cover the point spread. Why? Because the guys who set the line -- as of today still seven points -- are smarter than the rest of us. If you had asked the armchair quarterbacks to set the line, they would have probably come in at 10 points or more. The betting line means the smart money thinks Peyton isn't as good as he seems, and much-maligned Bears quarterback Rex Grossman isn't as bad. This is a classic sucker bet. Colts 23, Bears 17.
But what do I know? I care more about the commercials. Enjoy.
Read more...
|
|
|
| | |
|
| << |
February ’07 |
>> |
| Mo |
Tu |
We |
Th |
Fr |
Sa |
Su |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
| | | | |
|
