Reader Comment of the Day

Thanks once again MG!

"Is it because they are hopelessly status-obsessed and, having nothing else going for them, see their "ownership" as their only bragging rights?"

Yes...particularly for low to middle income females who need to have an established pecking-order in order to feel secure. The more untalented, uncreative, unattractive, uneducated, unproductive, and un-moneyed someone is, generally, the more they tend to put an emphasis on homeownership as *the* primary carrier of social status.

Most homeowner women look like those featured on Extreme Makeover or 10 Years Younger. In NB and upscale cities such as Manhattan, and upscale suburbs such as Westchester County, the Hanptons, etc, my observation does not apply, but generally, across the board, homeowner women look like crap and I can almost always detect whether a woman is a homeowner or not due to clues in her appearance.

Further, female homeowners imagine homeownership gives them unassailable status over female renters for no other reason than they own a mortgage. Odd, because without a husband's income, most of these homeowner women would be renters themselves.

Realtors are responsible for this attitude - telling the public over and over again how superior owning is compared to renting and putting renters in a sub-citizen category. Family pressures are another factor since renters are generally demonized in family conversations.

A certain number of Americans believe religiously that once a baby is on the way a couple *MUST* BUY A HOUSE, BECAUSE AFTER ALL, THAT IS WHAT NORMAL PEOPLE DO. There is a new term to describe the "normalcy" of this behavior and its called the "nesting" instinct.

The good thing is that financial institutions have wised-up and have tightened lending standards that were abandoned after 9/11, so there will be less homeowners who are occupying property. There is a real shake-down going on now and is the reason the dollar has sunk in value and gas is $4.60/gal.

Since Scottsdale has been transformed from an upper-middle class city to a low-income city, the low-income and mid-income residents there will be slow to accept a change in social status for renters. Those of us with money have never needed to engage in this pecking-order behavior - after all, Jennifer Aniston rented a $25k/month Malibu beachfront home and no one scorned her for being a renter. In NB, people rent all the time and in various cities around the world, so renting is no big deal.

Comments

[Shyster B Harvey]

It's disgusting how much emphasis you put on appearance in this comment.

I'm healthy, in good shape, exercise, and I don't look like a million bucks.

Who cares though? You think women only look good only after they slather themselves in makeup or fake tan?

Get a grip. If you're healthy, who cares how messed up your face, hair, lips, etc. look.

[Frank Rumbauskas]

I hate to break it to you but people who take care of themselves don't have bad skin, bad hair, etc.

"If you're healthy, who cares how messed up your face, hair, lips, etc. look."

If you're healthy then none of those things look messed up.

[Shyster B Harvey]

I have terrible hair and get acne every now and then, yet I wash my hair and face every day. Sometimes, it just happens.

[joe jacari]

I have terrible hair and get acne every now and then, yet I wash my hair and face every day. Sometimes, it just happens.

Shyster B Harvey
_____

Well, what I'd like to do is set you up for a Scottsdale refreshment session to freshen you up a bit.

First thing we'll do is put a bib on you like a baby and take you out for a Happy Meal at McDonalds. My girlfriend and I will put a birthday hat on you and clap as we feed you fries and get the balloon man to make little twisty creatures with those weiner dog balloons.

After that, we'll take you to the world famous (not) Carsten hair stylist in Scottsdale and have your hair bleached blonde, straightened and extended so that your bangs hang over your eyes in a triangular, fasiony way.

Then, we'll take you to the local Botox and Collagen doctor and have your lips puffed out so you get that sexy, Scottdale "pouty" look and have your furrowed forehead smoothed out.

Then, off to lunch at PF Changs near the sewage canal! Ahh..Ha, ha! Smell the fresh, outdoorsy Italian-style canal sewage water as you chomp on the rodent infested Mr. Wang's Style Chicken Hoochi Coochie.

Then we'll go to the nearest club and have some shots poured down your gullet before whisking you away to the nearest indian casino to lose your last $26.35.

Then, we'll take you out to the Porche dealer to lease a Porsche you cannot afford.

Then we'll sign some loan docs on a $550K condo and Kierland, that you simply cannot afford.

Then off to the 99-cent store for some imported Chinese Brillo pads to scrape the acne off your face.

After all of this authentic Scottsdale experience of the good life, you will be a new man and true to your name--Shyster B. Harvey--and the authentic new spirit of desert shyter living.

Bon apetitos and bon vivant!

[Hill]

Any indications of Scottsdale/Phoenix banks in trouble? The real estate crash seems to be on a lag in Phoenix versus FL, NV, CA, Atlanta. As the banks recognize their losses--the examiners will make them eventually--prices may go down.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/bank-stocks-plunge-investors-mull/story.aspx?guid=%7B3E186B03%2DA4E5%2D4E70%2D9D50%2D5C02AD0D93FA%7D