Lets also not forget to support local businesses

hockables wrote:

CheenaGringo wrote:Zed:

Using a State that is a total embarrassment to the rest of the US in a comparison to Canada appears as a dubious attempt to put down our neighbors to the north. No wonder Canadians wish to live in denial about being Gringos! HA!

denial?? pffft... denial.... only denial up here is what the hell happened to the NHL when Kaliforni takes The Stanley Cup?
denial....

we still have a couple of kids left in Gravelborge Saskatchewan... would New Mexico like ta buy a team?

Ah that explains it. I forgot the Stanley cup is over and Cali won it. Now maybe I can watch HD Jeopardy again on
300 on shaw instead of Hockey every night for what seems like months. No wonder some Canadians are touchy
right now about Cali. Somehow thinking of the Cup and LA does seem funny. Maybe we can get a curling team
soon. Actually I like curling better than hockey.

Z

CheenaGringo wrote:Zed:

Using a State that is a total embarrassment to the rest of the US HA!

And to think that for a 100 years the rest of the US was a total embarrassment to California!

Hahahaha. Pretty much. . .

For those who may care, just read the following snippet re: California

GDP growth: 2%
Real 2011 GDP: $1.735 trillion (the highest)
Population change: 0.95% (11th highest)
Increase in employment: 0.9% (tied-21st lowest)

With a population of 37.7 million, California has one of the largest economies in the world. By itself, it represents 13.2% of U.S. economic production. Due to its enormous size, the state's 2% GDP increase was worth $33 billion -- the second-largest growth in dollar terms in the U.S. after Texas.

California's growth last year can be credited to expansions in its manufacturing, information, and the professional, scientific, and technical service sectors. The state's durable manufacturing sector, which includes the computer and innovation technology-producing Silicon Valley, contributed more than $10 billion of the GDP increase.

I remember reading ( a long time ago, so numbers may change) that Los Angeles had the 4th or5th largest number of Canadians living there than ANY OTHER CITY IN NORTH AMERICA ... that includes Canadian cities.

Many Albertans have never forgiven LA for buying Gretzky ... lol

MaggieL wrote:I remember reading ( a long time ago, so numbers may change) that Los Angeles had the 4th or5th largest number of Canadians living there than ANY OTHER CITY IN NORTH AMERICA ... that includes Canadian cities.

Many Albertans have never forgiven LA for buying Gretzky ... lol

Oh how funny the hockey connection occurs again. LOL

Z

I'm not sure how you can compare Canada which is so successful to California or even the US. Canada has THE MOST stable banking system of any country and they intend to keep it that way. It has only 6 or 7 very tightly controlled banks. I believe the US has over 3,000 banks! Correct me if I'm wrong.

Property holds its value in Canada, especially Vancouver and Toronto where their are multiple bidders for property, sometimes overbidding by $ 50 K. The homeowners in Canada when applying for home loans were/are limited to the amount of credit according to their income and they had to have their credit and jobs references checked. Unlike the morons running the US government who thought EVERYONE should own a home and gave credit to risky people with no credit and without checking job and credit references. What a bunch of stupid morons in the US.

Canada is very rich in minerals, oil and gas. I was told that Canada could supply the US with oil for the next 50 years and not feel it. The US is not.

California may have been a good state at one time, BUT isn't it the State that is in the most trouble? Broke?? And with 100's of thousands of Foreclosures, only surpassed by Nevada and Florida.

johninajijic wrote:

Canada is very rich in minerals, oil and gas. I was told that Canada could supply the US with oil for the next 50 years and not feel it.

If that's true I don't what the heck we're doing mucking around the middle east when we could just hop across the border and achieve the same goal.

johninajijic wrote:I'm not sure how you can compare Canada which is so successful to California or even the US. Canada has THE MOST stable banking system of any country and they intend to keep it that way. It has only 6 or 7 very tightly controlled banks. I believe the US has over 3,000 banks! Correct me if I'm wrong.

Property holds its value in Canada, especially Vancouver and Toronto where their are multiple bidders for property, sometimes overbidding by $ 50 K. The homeowners in Canada when applying for home loans were/are limited to the amount of credit according to their income and they had to have their credit and jobs references checked. Unlike the morons running the US government who thought EVERYONE should own a home and gave credit to risky people with no credit and without checking job and credit references. What a bunch of stupid morons in the US.

Canada is very rich in minerals, oil and gas. I was told that Canada could supply the US with oil for the next 50 years and not feel it. The US is not.

California may have been a good state at one time, BUT isn't it the State that is in the most trouble? Broke?? And with 100's of thousands of Foreclosures, only surpassed by Nevada and Florida.

Actually if you check you are seeing prices going up in LA. They will stink for the inner valleys but the worst is over. Folks
act like this has not happened to Cali before. It has in the past and will happen in the future in Califonia. Every time it
happens people say the boom is over and Cali is doomed. Well I will bet in five years it will be back to its old behavior.
California is very rich in Minerals in the east part of the state. Mines are reopening all over the Sierra and Death Valley
as the price of minerals goes up. Also we have huge oil sands in Colorado if we feel the need to do the same as Canada
has done. Don't get me wrong Canada is a very strong economic country but don't throw out the western US as it has
many minerals and rare elements very much like Canada.

Time will tell.

Z

Zed - I think you're out of touch with house prices in Calif. My neighbors have 2 condos in La Joya which I'm told is a very upscale area. They're on the market in the $ 600 K range. The neighbors who live in this condo were up in arms when one just sold for $ 483 K.

Further, the area that we wanted to move to was Temecula, CA. Last May we looked at houses in the $ 350 - $ 425 K range. I still get weekly updates which show listing and selling prices. Three to four years ago, these homes were bought for $ 675 - $ 725 K. The asking prices now are $ 300 - $400 K. The selling prices are anywhere from $ 30 K to $ 60 K + LESS than asking price and these are not all foreclosures or short sales. Nothing is going up in Calif and there are hundreds of new foreclosures daily. The US housing market will be in the toilet for years and will never recover to the ridiculous prices no matter who is President. More people are moving out of CA than moving in. Don't forget CA has one of, if not the highest cost of living.

The area we want to move to in NC is lowering prices on a daily basis too, although not in the way that CA is.And the home prices in NC are $ 100 - $ 125 K less with a far less cost of living.

as far as I know, the only area in the US that is doing well is the Northeast. Massachusetts prices are holding. my neice recently sold their house for asking price (over $ 300 K, a slab ranch) in three days. My other cousin sold her house in Westport for almost $ 500 K in two months.

What the hell does any of this have to do with supporting local business? Talk about wasting bandwidth John!

Back to local business, on TOB (gasp) there is apparently a new Egyptian restaurant in Ajijic, yummmmm hummus, shawarma etc. etc. etc. Going there for suuuuure.
Just around the corner is a new bakery and Deli, hmmmm perhaps a little too convenient. Allegedly outrageously good.
Cafe Cairo and Lilifher ( the bakery/deli)

The Restaurant is on Marcos Castellanos near the church, and the bakery/deli is on Colon near the bank. Now if anyone on here gets there before I do and the blackberry bars are gone I'll know who to blame. I will forgive if there are still some croissants left, just a hint.

I don't believe the restaurant is new, aren't these the same guys that do the Tues market? Good food, regardless.

The restaurant recently relocated to Ajijic. The bakery is fairly new.

Cafe Cairo is spectacular. It's actually on Calle Parroquia....across from the school....just about but not quite on la plaza in Ajijic.

Wael used to run El Faroan (sp?) in Riberas. The food is really good....and his story is even better. (Married a Tapatia who he met in .... fergawdsakes.....Dubai.) Plus he's completely charming and eye-candy for the ladies. Just go. Feast on the all of it.

Look forward to trying the bakery on Colon....which I find unspellable.

johninajijic wrote:Zed - I think you're out of touch with house prices in Calif. My neighbors have 2 condos in La Joya which I'm told is a very upscale area. They're on the market in the $ 600 K range. The neighbors who live in this condo were up in arms when one just sold for $ 483 K.

Further, the area that we wanted to move to was Temecula, CA. Last May we looked at houses in the $ 350 - $ 425 K range. I still get weekly updates which show listing and selling prices. Three to four years ago, these homes were bought for $ 675 - $ 725 K. The asking prices now are $ 300 - $400 K. The selling prices are anywhere from $ 30 K to $ 60 K + LESS than asking price and these are not all foreclosures or short sales. Nothing is going up in Calif and there are hundreds of new foreclosures daily. The US housing market will be in the toilet for years and will never recover to the ridiculous prices no matter who is President. More people are moving out of CA than moving in. Don't forget CA has one of, if not the highest cost of living.

The area we want to move to in NC is lowering prices on a daily basis too, although not in the way that CA is.And the home prices in NC are $ 100 - $ 125 K less with a far less cost of living.

as far as I know, the only area in the US that is doing well is the Northeast. Massachusetts prices are holding. my neice recently sold their house for asking price (over $ 300 K, a slab ranch) in three days. My other cousin sold her house in Westport for almost $ 500 K in two months.

Houses are going up in LA and Seattle. It is what the numbers say. Now please note I said they are going up. I did not
say they will recover previous values soon. All of Seattle Condos that were glutting the market have been sold. Now new
ones are starting to be built. My info comes from the LA Times, and Seattle Times. It probably still sucks in Stockton but
many of the larger cities are doing better in the west. Median days before sale in LA has dropped from 45 to 33 in the
last two months. LA times has article on this June 10th. Your friends problem in La Joya is called Condo and LA still
has too many for sale. Houses are moving not Condos in LA obviously. When they sell off the surplus than the market
will go up. Condos are always the first to drop and last to recover.

Z

E-raq wrote:Back to local business, on TOB (gasp) there is apparently a new Egyptian restaurant in Ajijic, yummmmm hummus, shawarma etc. etc. etc. Going there for suuuuure.
Just around the corner is a new bakery and Deli, hmmmm perhaps a little too convenient. Allegedly outrageously good.
Cafe Cairo and Lilifher ( the bakery/deli)

The Restaurant is on Marcos Castellanos near the church, and the bakery/deli is on Colon near the bank. Now if anyone on here gets there before I do and the blackberry bars are gone I'll know who to blame. I will forgive if there are still some croissants left, just a hint.

Try the 20 pesos fruit drink. I think it has a little bit of ice cream in it and goes very well with the food
at the middle east resturante.

The bakery has wonderful rye bread in nice small sliced loaf for $20 but when its gone it is gone.

Z

Todays LA times for John

The Southland’s(means LA) move-up market showed some signs of life as the region’s median home price improved for the second consecutive month in May, new data show.

The median home price rose 5.4% in May from the same month last year to hit $295,000, real estate research firm DataQuick reported Wednesday. That was a 1.7% improvement over the prior month.

Sales throughout the Southland also improved, up 20.6% from May 2011 and 15.1% from April to hit 22,192.

Helping boost the median was a narrower share of foreclosures selling as part of the market for previously owned homes. Foreclosed homes typically sell at a discount. Sales volume also improved for homes priced above $300,000, helping boost prices.

La Jolla, pronounced La Hoya, is one of the most exclusive beach front communities in southern California (San Diego). It's where Mitt Romney has bought an ocean front home and is putting in a car elevator and other 'improvements' pissing off almost everyone who lives there.

A car elevator???????? holy $hit And people are going to vote for a person like this to run the US? A country on economic life support?

Trailrunner wrote:A car elevator???????? holy $hit And people are going to vote for a person like this to run the US? A country on economic life support?

It's for his wife's two Caddies,they don't climb stairs very well.

Is that a new breed?

LOL

And just when I think I've heard everything. . .

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/05/mitt-romney-ordered-55000-phantom-park-car-elevator-designer-says/

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/07/garden/mitt-romney-the-candidate-next-door.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all

gringal wrote:Is that a new breed?

Oh come on Gringal,you know I was referring to his speech in Detroit when he mentioned that his wife owned two Caddilacs.
BTW he's given up on the renovation due to complaints from neighbors and the bad PR,instead he's buying the much larger estate next door owned by his buddy and campaign donor John Miller the meat packing magnate.

Heck there are some places in upper Ajijic where it is so steep that literally half of the homes on one street have elevators, really. Now I have not ridden up in many of them. And luckily those who live in these homes only have one or two cars so there isn't a car elevator.

Oh and I have a helipad for helicopters to land on, on my roof too.. Oh I can't exaggerate and lie about that anymore, I finally saved up enough money to put in more solar panels,and you can see that it's not a helipad, darn :)