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Have we entered another tech bubble?

posted by LaminatorX on Saturday February 22 2014, @12:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the It's-like-a-telegram-but-on-a-phone dept.

siliconwafer writes:

"Facebook's purchase of WhatsApp has generated a lot of noise in the financial and tech industries, with some calling the purchase price 'down-right silly' and 'jaw-dropping', and others have said the price is fair, but question the strategy. Is the purchase price evidence that we're entering entering another tech bubble reminiscent of the 1990s? Some say no, while others believe that a bubble may exist only in social media, given that the Global X Social Media Index ETF has outperformed the NASDAQ over the past year."

 
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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by bigjimslade on Saturday February 22 2014, @12:05AM

    by bigjimslade (212) on Saturday February 22 2014, @12:05AM (#4677)

    having bought at the last bubble (2000) in silicon valley, watched my home drop 40% in two years (ouch that hurt), recover over the next eight (yay), then double in the last three (WTF), i would say YES we're in a bubble.

    --
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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Nobuddy on Saturday February 22 2014, @12:19AM

    by Nobuddy (1626) on Saturday February 22 2014, @12:19AM (#4680)

    Buy low and sell high. Time to sell and move?

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Jerry Smith on Saturday February 22 2014, @09:00AM

      by Jerry Smith (379) on Saturday February 22 2014, @09:00AM (#4806) Journal

      Buy low and sell high. Time to sell and move?

      You mean: move to another house that went through the same up&down cycles? Moving only works in a select set of circumstances.

      --
      All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.

  • (Score: 1) by istartedi on Saturday February 22 2014, @12:46PM

    by istartedi (123) on Saturday February 22 2014, @12:46PM (#4870)

    On the longer version of my afternoon walks, there is a house in the hills above Redwood City.
    I watched them renovate it over the past couple years. It was quite a wreck when they started.
    I think it might have been one of those "leave one wall standing so you can permit it as a remodel
    rather than a teardown/rebuild". So. Unlike a lot of flippers they put some serious work into it.
    It also looks like it might have a nice Bay View, although it would be through the houses and trees
    across the street. IIRC, 2 maybe 3 bedrooms. Not a huge house.

    $1.59 million.

    OK, sure, nice view. Nice neighborhood that I've been told was working class
    up until the 80s; but now is mostly remodeled in a similar fashion. Still though...
    that amount of money, with historical average interest rates is a full retirement
    in many parts of the country. That's just it--low interest rates + all the hot
    money from tech = insanity.

    The interesting thing about that neighborhood is that you can still see
    remnants of the old days, when it was "too far from the city", people were on
    septic, etc. You can spot an old timer because the house isn't renovated and
    there is often an RV, old truck, or VW bus in the driveway. Take a good look at
    things like that in Silicon Valley--these are the last remnants of the post-war
    middle class. They're few and far between now; but they're still there.

    There was another one down on the flats that went through a less intensive
    remodel--gutted to the studs, but no structural alteration. They didn't put a price
    on it. It sold the weekend after the open house.

    • (Score: 1) by demonlapin on Saturday February 22 2014, @06:30PM

      by demonlapin (925) on Saturday February 22 2014, @06:30PM (#4984) Journal
      The whole Bay Area thing is insane. I mean, I get that the weather is always perfect, but damn. In most of the rest of the country, $1.6M gets you a 6000-7000 sf house, top of the line furnishings, and some land (1-2 acres).

      • (Score: 1) by ButchDeLoria on Saturday February 22 2014, @08:34PM

        by ButchDeLoria (583) on Saturday February 22 2014, @08:34PM (#5020)

        In my area, $1M flat gets you 70 acres, a 7000 sq foot home with lake house, AND room to refurnish all of it entirely.