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8:30 AM Friday, March 25, 2005: Markets
are closed today for Easter and Passover. Home sales continue to boom. New single-family
home sales rose an enormous 9.4% in February -- the sharpest increase since
December 2000's 11.7% jump. This rise happened despite or in spite of the
huge price escalation in homes of the past year. How long will it continue? I'm
guessing the torrid pace will ease. The 30-year mortgage rate bounced over 6%
this week, the first it's been over 6% since July. It's getting more expensive
to borrow.
It's hard to make specific forecasts about real estate since real estate is a
local market. But the overall economic picture -- of population growth
and rising employment -- look solid.
My anniversary yesterday: It
was my 29th wedding anniversary yesterday. I gave my wife a small gift and a card
with the following words: "Congratulations
on a miraculous 29 years. What would be even better than the last 29, would be
another 29 -- with as few health, emotional, family and financial problems of
the first 29. Now that would be a serious accomplishment. I'm praying. The children
are too."
Getting
to the Promised Land.
Moses is taking his people out of Egypt. He gets to the Red Sea. He calls for
his VP Engineering: "Please build us a bridge."
Replies the VP Engineering. "No way. We're in the desert. There's no wood."
Moses calls for his VP Sales: "Please ride back and negotiate a deal with
the Egyptians, which are chasing us."
Replies the VP Sales, "No way, boss. They want us dead. There's no deal."
Moses calls for VP Public Relations: "What can you do for us?"
Replies the VP PR: "Stand on that rock. Ask God to open the Red Sea. Take
the children of Israel through the Red Sea. When you get to the other side,
stand on a rock, wait for the Egyptians to be in the Sea. Then ask God to close
the River. Bingo, all your enemies will be drowned."
Moses look quizzically, "This fantasy going to work?"
Replies the VP PR. "Boss, I don't know. But if it does. I'll get you two
pages in the Old Testament."
What Is Easter? (from yesterday)
Three blondes died and found themselves standing before St. Peter. He told them
before they could enter the kingdom, they had to tell him what Easter was.
The first blonde
said, "Easter is a holiday where they have a big feast and we give thanks
and eat turkey."
St. Peter said,
"Noooooo," and he banished her to hell.
The second blonde
said, "Easter is when we celebrate Jesus' birth and exchange gifts."
St. Peter said,
"Noooooo," and he banished her to hell.
The third blonde
said, "Easter is a Christian holiday that coincides with the Jewish festival
of Passover. Jesus was having Passover feast with his disciples when he was
betrayed by Judas, and the Romans arrested him. The Romans hung him on the cross
and eventually he died. Then they buried him in a tomb behind a very large boulder.
St. Peter said,
"verrrrrry good."
The blonde continued,
"Now every year the Jews roll away the boulder and Jesus comes out. If
he sees his shadow, we have six more weeks of basketball."
St. Peter fainted.
Harry Newton
This column is about my personal search for the perfect investment. I don't
give investment advice. For that you have to be registered with regulatory authorities,
which I am not. I am a reporter and an investor. I make my daily column -- Monday
through Friday -- freely available for three reasons: Writing is good for sorting
things out in my brain. Second, the column is research for a book I'm writing
called "In Search of the Perfect Investment." Third, I encourage
my readers to send me their ideas, concerns and experiences. That way we can
all learn together. My email address is  .
You can't click on my email address. You have to re-type it . This protects
me from software scanning the Internet for email addresses to spam. I have no
role in choosing the Google ads. Thus I cannot endorse any, though some look
mighty interesting. If you click on a link, Google may send me money. That money
will help pay Claire's law school tuition. Read more about Google AdSense,
click
here and here.
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