Ithaca Property Sales of Note #1

I follow the real estate market in the Ithaca area pretty closely and will post about sales I find noteworthy.

---

Price History

Date Event Price $/sqft 

02/18/14 Sold $735,000 $269

12/09/13 Listing removed $785,000 $288

11/15/13 Pending sale $785,000 $288

06/05/13 Listed for sale $785,000 $288

11/18/11 Listing removed $897,000 $329

02/24/11 Listed for sale $897,000 $329

---

We can see from Zillow that it was originally listed in February 2011 at $897,000 and finally sold in February 2014 for $735,000. So it was on the market for around 1090 days and sold for 18% below the original asking price. The house was built in 1985, sat on a 2.92 acre lot with lake views, and was assessed at $690,000. It was owned by David S. Yeh who worked at Cornell but moved to Saudi Arabia in July 2009.

Skyr (Pronounced Skeer)

Learned about this yoghurt from reading Tiffany Shi's post on her visit to Iceland.  Apparently you can find it at The Fresh Market, assuming you have enough money to live near one.

Small Spaces

One of a number of dramatic photos taken by the Hong Kong-based Society for Community Organisation. We lived in Hong Kong for a couple of years after the handover and I loved living there, but we had a decent-sized apartment.

Unresponsive Screen Testing

Quirktools has a really cool thing called Screenfly to test how your website looks on different devices with different screen sizes.  In the old days when I did maoxian.com myself with my extensive knowledge of HTML (this is a joke), it always looked like hell on everything except my own screen... thus limiting the audience to a dozen hard-core lunatics.  Now with this slick new design I expect my following to at least double to 24. 

Slow Boat Brewery's North Star Anise Stout

Big fan of this beer from Slow Boat Brewery ... it has been renamed North Star Liquorice Stout for the boobs who don't know what star anise is, thus ruining the wordplay ... anyway, at 6.2% with a bitterness rating (IBU) of 30, I can drink these all night long... waistline expanding in real-time.  Beijing has a pretty active craft beer scene, for which I'm thankful.  30元 (US$4.80) a pint.

View fullsize

Notes on Sprouts Family Market

Noticed SFM on the all-time lows list so I skimmed their S-1 ... here are my selected excerpts with comments in [brackets].  Interesting biz because it's a sort of New Normal play (cost conscious poorer Americans) combined with health food (traditionally an educated, affluent thing).

“Sprouts Farmers Market is a ... specialty retailer of natural and organic food focusing on health and wellness at great value. [Health food on the cheap.]

We cater to consumers’ growing interest in eating and living healthier. [Is this good grammar?]

Founded in 2002, we have ... 170 stores in nine states as of February 28, 2014 [and] we are one of the largest specialty retailers of natural and organic food in the United States. [Based in Arizona, it’s a Southwest thing.]

We have ... the potential for approximately 1,200 locations operating under our current format. [They say hopefully.]

The cornerstones of our business are fresh, natural and organic products at compelling prices, an attractive and differentiated shopping experience.... [Health food on the cheap.]

We offer high-quality, natural and organic products at attractive prices in every department. [Key here is the cheap prices.]

Consistent with our farmers market heritage, our offering begins with fresh produce, which we source, warehouse and distribute in-house and sell at prices we believe to be significantly below those of other food retailers. In addition, our scale, operating structure and deep industry relationships position us to consistently deliver “Healthy Living for Less” throughout the store. [How are they sourcing fresh produce cheaper than the competition?]

We ... appeal to a much wider demographic than other specialty retailers of natural and organic food. ... our compelling prices and product offering converts many “trial” customers into loyal “lifestyle” customers who shop Sprouts with greater frequency and across an increasing number of departments. [Trying to appeal to wider demographic, not just the usual educated, affluent types who try to eat good food, but getting poorer, dumber people in the door.]

In a convenient, small-box format (average store size of 27,500 sq. ft.), our stores have a farmers market feel, with a bright, open-air atmosphere to create a comfortable and engaging in-store experience. We feature fresh produce and bulk foods at the center of the store surrounded by a complete grocery offering, including vitamins and supplements, grocery, meat and seafood, bakery, dairy, frozen foods, beer and wine, body care and natural household items. [Making the produce the centerpiece, not on the margins like most grocery stores.]

Consistent with our natural and organic offering, we choose not to carry most of the traditional, national branded consumer packaged goods generally found at conventional grocery retailers (e.g., Doritos, Tide and Lucky Charms). Instead, we offer high-quality alternatives that emphasize our focus on fresh, natural and organic products at great values. [Most interesting bit in the prospectus, for me.]

[We have a] goal of making healthy eating easier and more accessible ... a wide selection of high-quality, healthy and great tasting food at attractive prices. [Health food on the cheap.]

We believe interest in healthy eating, an increasing focus on preventative health measures, and the rising costs of healthcare have driven significant growth in natural and organic food consumption. [They mention rising healthcare costs.]

[We seek to] capitalize on two powerful, long-term consumer trends — a growing interest in health and wellness and a focus on value. [New Normal, declining standard of living in America, poorer people]

Our high volume and low-cost store model enhance our ability to consistently offer competitive prices on a complete assortment of natural and organic products. [Health food on the cheap.]

Our rigorous store selection process and a growing interest in health and wellness, contribute to our attractive new store returns on investment. [Location, location, location?]

Our typical store requires an average new store cash investment of approximately $2.8 million, including store buildout (net of contributions from landlords), inventory (net of payables) and cash pre-opening expenses. Based on historical performance, we target pre-tax cash-on-cash returns of 35-40% within three to four years after opening. [They say hopefully.]

Our broad product offering and value proposition appeals to a wider demographic than other leading competitors, including higher-priced health food and gourmet food retailers. [Looking at you, snooty Whole Fooders?]

Heightened interest in eating healthy across markets. [Bad grammar again?]

From our founding in 2002 through February 28, 2014, we opened 94 new stores while successfully rebranding 43 Henry’s and 39 Sunflower stores to the Sprouts banner. On a combined basis, Sprouts, Henry’s and Sunflower opened an average of 17 stores per year from fiscal 2008 through fiscal 2013. We opened 19 new stores in fiscal 2013. We expect to continue to expand our store base with 22-24 store openings planned in fiscal 2014. [Henry’s? Sunflower? Must be a Southwest thing.]

We aim to grow our average ticket by continuing to expand and refine our fresh, natural and organic product offering, our targeted and personalized marketing efforts and our in-store education. [How to get cheap people to spend more?]”

Monetize and Concretize Some Gains

“From 2009 to 2013, wages rose only for the top U.S. earners and fell for the bottom 90 percent, according to an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data by the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank. ... The average wealth for households with a net worth of $500,000 or more jumped 21 percent from 2009 to 2011, the first two years of the economic recovery, Fry said. It declined 5 percent for everybody else. The top 13 percent of households own all corporate and municipal bonds, 92 percent of the value of directly-held stocks and 69 percent of the wealth in 401(k) funds, according to Fry’s analysis of Census Bureau data.”

Is that all? ;-)

Another article to add to the Bifurcated America file.

Christopher Fountain has written a few posts about Copper Beech Farm. 

ETF Trading Portfolio Update -- May 2, 2014

Cutting losses in tech (TECS) and the inverse VIX.

View fullsize

Trading idea for Mon. May 5, 2014 | Automatic Data Processing (ADP)

Something to think about from the short side ... set the alerts.

View fullsize

Receive these free daily trading ideas by email.

Scooter Batteries Stolen

Yesterday afternoon when I was grocery shopping at the local Carrefour, I came out to discover this:

View fullsize

Battery well empty, cleaned out in broad daylight.

I bought the scooter in September 2011 and have replaced the batteries several times over the years, though never due to theft. The scooter totally changed my life. We've always had a car, but I hate driving it (there are now five million cars in Beijing) so it just sits in the garage collecting dust. With the scooter I'm truly free.

View fullsize

The scooter the day I bought it ... cost 4000 yuan (US$640) all-in ... it looks considerably worse for wear now and is carried as a fully depreciated asset in my mind.  Yes, I really do think like that.

View fullsize

Happy sight: new batteries.

Four 12-volt batteries (20 amp) cost 750 yuan (~US$120).  If you have your old batteries their trade-in value is 200 yuan (US$32).  My scooter repair boy said he'd fashion a lock for these new ones and I'll update the post once he does that and I get a photo of it (assuming the batteries are not stolen again in the meantime).

Update: My scooter repair boy can't weld, so he just installed a conventional motion-activated alarm.  

View fullsize