Condo, Condi, and More April 8, 2004January 21, 2017 R.M.N.-d YOU OF ANYONE? Bob Neinast: ‘Yesterday, you quoted Jack Spadaro saying: ‘I’ve been in government since Richard Nixon. I’ve been through the Reagan administration, Carter and Clinton. I’ve never seen anything like this.’ You absolutely positively have to get and read John Dean’s just-published Worse Than Watergate.’ ☞ MUCH worse. But Watergate didn’t keep Nixon from being reelected. It takes a long time for people to catch on. Spread the word. REAL ESTATE Several of you wanted to know where Georgia’s dark, 900-square-foot condo was, so I sent off for more background: Georgia Wong: ‘My condo was in Larkspur, CA, about 30 minutes north of San Francisco, across the Golden Gate Bridge. I bought it for $183K in the early 1990s. The former owners had paid $214K two years prior and were forced to sell. [WAIT! YOU MEAN YOU CAN LOSE MONEY ON REAL ESTATE? IS THAT EVEN LEGAL??? – A.T., confused.] I sold it for $327K, however I didn’t make a gob of money. Shortly after I bought the unit, I was assessed about $35K in major improvements (new roof, siding, garage repaving). Also, over the years I dipped into the equity here and there to pay off bills (auto loan, credit cards). [WELL, THAT WAS NOT A COST OF OWNING THE CONDO, THAT WAS TAKING OUT EQUITY TO PAY OFF OTHER DEBT. BUT IN ADDITION TO THE $35,000 ASSESSMENT, THERE WERE THE $20K+ CLOSING COSTS OF THE SALE.] ‘However, I did net enough from the sale to make a down payment on a real house in Austin (2000 sq. ft.) and buy new appliances. Waiting a year I could have made another $80K, but I’m not complaining. I was RELIEVED I sold when I did because the unit didn’t show well despite modest improvements I made (retiling the kitchen, etc.). The reality was that my condo was small, a lower unit with a tiny kitchen and dark. I only got two offers and fell to my knees in gratitude when the sale closed. ‘Want to hear more real estate bizarreness? My best friend sold her parents’ 35-year-old 3 br/2 ba tract house [NOTE TO THOSE LISTENING ON TAPE: THIS WAS A TRACT HOUSE, NOT A CRACK HOUSE] in Mill Valley last year for $750K. We’re talking burnt orange shag carpets, walnut veneer paneling in the family room, a dinky kitchen with fake linoleum floors and sparkly, popcorn ceilings. The couple who bought it gutted it and are doing a MAJOR remodel. Still, they feel that at $750K they got a deal!’ [NOTE TO THOSE WONDERING HOW TO LISTEN ON TAPE: GET YOUR CHILD TO READ THIS INTO A TAPE RECORDER EACH MORNING BEFORE SCHOOL.] SO WHY DON’T THEY RESIGN? Dennis Soohoo: ‘Besides not resigning or apologizing, Bush has the arrogance to flaunt their mistakes by making jokes at the press dinner about not finding weapons of mass destruction, as more and more die.’ IN THEIR OWN WORDS A few quotes from Take Them at Their Words: ‘Why should we hear about body bags and deaths and how many, what day it’s gonna happen? It’s not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?’ – Barbara Bush on ‘Good Morning America’ the day before the Iraq war started, The New York Times, January 13, 2003 ‘My biggest fear is going to be going to the funeral of some young Iowa man or woman who dies in this conflict and having their mother or father come up to me and ask whether or not their son or daughter died for America, or died to save Bill Clinton’s presidency. I don’t know what I would say to those grieving parents. For that reason I believe the President must resign immediately.’ – Rep. Jim Nussle (R-IA), Congressional Record, December 18, 1998 ‘Victory means exit strategy, and it’s important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is.’ – George W. Bush, discussing Kosovo, Houston Chronicle, April 9, 1999 ‘I’m the commander – see, I don’t need to explain – I don’t need to explain why I say things. That’s the interesting thing about being the President. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don’t feel like I owe anybody an explanation.’ – George W. Bush, Washington Post, November 19, 2002 CONDI RICE – POINT BY POINT If you’d like a little warm-up to Dr. Rice’s testimony today, click here.