Three reasons to build in 2009

With rates and availability at historic lows, now is the time to get your dream home started, experts say

What? Dive into buying land and building in the most challenging finan­cial market in years? Who’s the crackpot suggesting I ignore all the recession alarm bells ringing away across the country and take on a big commitment to make my dream home a realitv now?

I’ll first admit I’m a realtor and talk to other realtors all the time. We’re optimists, but we also look at this market with per­spective. I’ve seen prices in some of the most beautiful parts of California drop lower than they’ve been in 10 years. Log prices have stabilized; producers are offer­ing free upgrades and other incentives to help you build your dream affordably; builders arc not only available, they’re also willing to offer deals and incentives; lenders are still offering 90% financing and rates are still at historic lows.

The Fabric of History

Denim roots reach deep into the days of the Cali­fornia Gold Rush. In 1853, a German immigrant named Levi Strauss moved to San Francisco with plans to set up a dry goods store. He had plenty of canvas for tents, but a customer told him that pants were in demand. Strauss came to the res­cue, converting canvas into pants he called waist overalls, and sold them to the miners. Apparently, all customers are particular about comfort, and the miners complained that the pants chafed. Since the customer was always right, Strauss sent to France for a softer—but still durable-twilled cotton cloth called serge de Nimes, and “denim” was born. Like anything familiar, it quickly sported a nickname, blue jeans, although the origin of the term is unknown.

Q&A: LEBRON JAMES

The veteran on the film that chronicles his high school days five whole years ago

Takeaway the league MVP, the five All-Star appearances, the Rookie of the Year award, the high school national championship, the Sports Illustrated cover at 17, and even­tually you get to a core. His mom’s in there somewhere, sure—anyone who’d buy her son a $50,000 Hummer for his 18th birthday should be. But most of it’s made up of the small group of friends he grew up with. The guys he played with from middle school through high school back in Akron, Ohio, who dubbed themselves the Fab Five and rarely lost a game together, and who watched—and supported—him as he left them in the realm of mere localphenomery to be a world­wide star. It’s those guys—and the friendship they formed—who are the focus of the new documentary, More Than a Game (out October2). The almost two hours of home movies,gamefootage, and present-day interviews show five boys become friends, a team, and, eventually, men. Which is nowhere near as painfully earnest as it sounds. We talked to him about the film.

BET ON OIL

Hope for alternative forms of energy if you like, but invest in crude

Because I’m a dork, I’ve made a habit of reading the quarterly reports of hedge-fund managers whose thinking I admire. After all, these guys have bil­lions on the line and can afford to conduct origi­nal research far more creative and wide-ranging than even that of a giant financial-services com­pany, which must stick to narrowly defined sectors and compa­ny sizes within those sectors.

Alison Brie

A guy walks into a bar and sees a sign that reads, “Cheese sand­wich $3.50. Chicken sandwich $4.50. Handjob $5.” He checks his wallet and calls over the waitress. He asks, “Are you the one who does the handjob?”

She smiles at him seductively and says, “I am.”

He says, “Well, wash your friggin’ hands. I want a cheese sandwich.”

FEELING GOOD

ARE WE ENTERING a period of irrational exuberance, or arc things just getting better? A cou­ple months ago I told one of my colleagues that when the Dow hit 9,000, there would be a moment of optimism that might not be entirely justified. He said it was about time to start feeling good, and we should do an issue about that. We should exploit that moment. Then just as we started closing this issue, the Dow hit 9,000, the Cash for Clunkers program provided a signif­icant boost for the automobile industry, we lost a few fewer jobs than expected, Bill Clinton flew out of North Korea with two imprisoned Americans, and pundits and economists began to talk about the official end of the recession.