Chose ye this day...

Its funny how disappointed I was when I looked on the Waikato Times website and there was a poll there relating to how the Hamilton City council and members of the Temple View community were "working to save parts of Church College from demolition next year". The poll question being..."Should some of the buildings be saved"?

I find it hard to imagine that the members of the community who are working towards this, are the ones who do not belong to the church. But even more disappointing is that the decision has been made by the leaders of the church and that there are members of the church who do not seem to be at harmony with this decision.

The poll had some 420 respondents. Assuming that all of them were members, if represents about 2-4% of the estimated LDS population of Hamilton. 0.0077% of the estimated national LDS population, let alone the % of former CCNZ alumni. The poll is hardly conclusive. If 10% of the population forces a referendum, then this was well off the mark in even getting someone to bat an eyelid.

Lets even go one step further. The outside world may not understand, but the church is not a democracy. Never has been and never is likely to be. We don't have general conference to decide things what revelation has not been received for. To be be honest, this whole issue is growing wearisome. Let it go. The pioneers can leave Kirtland, Far West, Nauvoo, then we can leave this behind.

It is important to acknowledge the efforts it took to construct the college and the labours performed by the Labour Missionaries at the time. But I wonder, as those pioneers did in their time, do they realise that pioneers of an earlier time left two temples, homes, crops, farms, even family members to follow the directions of a prophet of God. How do you think they would be looking on this matter now?

I am not an alumni of Church College out of two things, opportunity and choice. But I love the school and what it represents. But to me, the significance of the school pales in comparison to the other great building out there, The Hamilton New Zealand Temple. Too many times I have watched people gather at the college, people I know who can enter the temple. They can take the time to visit the college, reminice with old friends, maybe have lunch at the Grotto in Frankton, but the temple remains unvisited. Maybe this is a lesson...to point us to focus on what building should be the real focus of attention there.

The Church put Church College there for a purpose. Now it sees that this purpose is achieved and the need is greater elsewhere. Essentially now, the decision has been made.

I put it this way. Do you sustain the President of the Church as Prophet, Seer and Revelator, and the only person on earth who is authorised to exercise all priesthood Keys?

Why would you buy a house now?

While I believe that buying a house is one of my longer term goals, right now is hardly the time for an investment in a house. Personally, a lawn mower and a line trimmer are more of priorities for me right now. (Maybe a 4 burner BBQ). But now, as much as I would want to, buying a house is not the priority for me right now.

In the last few weeks I have noticed headlines in the papers saying 'home buying getting easier' then a couple days later, 'its getting harder', then its easier, then harder again. Its been like this all year and its only going to keep going like this. Ironically, some of the commentators are right in saying the best time to buy is when the market bottoms out and prices begin to rise.

My sister in law and her husband in the states purchased a house a while ago and now, they wouldn't be able to sell it for its original purchase price. The same would be true for most people who purchased in the recent times and have seen the values of their houses rise and fall as often and as frequently as the interest rates of their mortgages.

While I would love to stop paying someone elses mortgage I think that I have to be content with the idea for a while longer. Just two years ago now, we almost had a home of our own. Nice place, purchase price of $315,000. As I worked it out at the time, a 25 year mortgage at 100% finance would have been over $1700 a month in re-payments, about $425 a week. Over the past two years though, the value of the house has dropped to just a little over $280,000 and may still be rising again. But I am thankful that we didn't get trapped with a problem asset.

I think the only circumstances I would buy a house right now would be if I won lotto. But since I don't play that frequently, its not going to happen. But it certainly is going to be interesting to watch. I would not be comfortable under the current conditions of the world to be to serious about buying a house.

Then you see places like ANZ and National Bank looking to having potential house buyers coming to them with a 20% deposit. Take a house at the price of $275,000, a 20% deposit is $55,000. So much for the first home buyer getting an easy road into the housing market. It would take some people I know, a long time to get a first home deposit with the rates being asked for from the bank.

The old phrase of Caveat Emptor is as true for this aspect of buying a house as it is for any other transaction. Buyer beware, because in this market, things will change in very quick order. Now if you are going to buy, buy what you can afford.

Buy the small 3 bedroom house, as opposed to the 6 bedroom mansion. Be smart.