So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[GHT]

You can get it on line. How many times do you hear that? All I want is clear shoe polish, what a devil of a job it is to buy it retail. The reaction too has been amusing, as in: "Who wears polished leather shoes, these days?" A glance towards my feet brings on the wry smile. Two tone spectators, not your everyday trainers are they?

 

[GHT]

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/members/goodnews.92431/
Can one of the Moderators do something with this threadjacker, please.

 

[Trenchfriend]

I already sent my objection against the (free will) electronic patient file from 01.01.2025 on with ANALOG POST to statutory health insurance.

Haha, kiss my butt, you digital faschos! Central digital networking my health data? ARE YOU KIDDING ME??

 

[GHT]

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/members/goodnews.92431/
Can one of the Moderators do something with this threadjacker, please.

Oops! We ran into some problems.​

This user's profile is not available.

Thank you Mods, much appreciated.

 

[tonyb]

It doesn’t tick me off but it does have me scratching my head …

The newly built suburban subdivisions with 4,000-square-foot houses — four bedrooms, four bathrooms — on 4,800-square-foot lots.

I found myself at such a place this afternoon. Each two-story house has a two-car garage and a driveway to match, but, what with those narrow lots and wide driveways, enough curb space in front of each house to park only one car on the street.

I assume that single family houses of that size are built for, well, families, with kids. I’m left to suppose that a yard large enough to actually play in doesn’t matter so much anymore, seeing how the little buzzards are inside on their smartphones or barking commands into their voice-activated TV remotes.

 

[GHT]

It doesn’t tick me off but it does have me scratching my head …

The newly built suburban subdivisions with 4,000-square-foot houses — four bedrooms, four bathrooms — on 4,800-square-foot lots.

I found myself at such a place this afternoon. Each two-story house has a two-car garage and a driveway to match, but, what with those narrow lots and wide driveways, enough curb space in front of each house to park only one car on the street.

I assume that single family houses of that size are built for, well, families, with kids. I’m left to suppose that a yard large enough to actually play in doesn’t matter so much anymore, seeing how the little buzzards are inside on their smartphones or barking commands into their voice-activated TV remotes.

What leaves me scratching my head is how families can afford such homes. The UK average price for four bedrooms is around £425,000 that's almost $560,000 in Uncle Sam's shekels. What a killer inflation is. When Tina and bought our first home in London, a mid terrace, three bedroomed property, it cost £3,500, today that house commands a price of £440,000.

The mortgage rate at the time always fluctuated but the lending rate of two and a half times the higher earner's salary was easily achieved. Today the two and half times scenario of £440,000 is £176,000 How many jobs pay that sort of salary?

 

[Turnip]

I would say just those of the targeted clientele.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

Until I removed to Florida in 2022 I lived in this town in suburban Washington, DC. The town expanded rapidly in the 1950's with street after street of one-story brick rambler houses having three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Those houses were selling lately for $700K to $800K.
Someone bought such a house and demolished it, putting it in its place this:
8 Beds · 6.5 Baths · 5,756 Sq. Ft.
This is not unusual.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^^^
I hesitate to say what I think of such architecture. Somebody thought it was a good idea, though, and, if it sells for what they’re hoping to get for it, I suppose that’s good for them. (And really, for that kinda money the staging could be considerably more inspired.)

It pains me to see attractive and well-built structures torn down to make way for such things. As something of a student of the matter, I’m aware of the efforts to spare architectural gems from the wrecking ball. This is happening quite a bit in California, especially in the coastal areas, where ”name” architects and designers (some got their due only posthumously) gave us some stunning but modest houses — a couple-three bedrooms tops and maybe two bathrooms but likelier only one. And something under 2,000 square feet. In those locations the properties are deemed underutilized by people with more money than aesthetic sensibility.

 

[Trenchfriend]

I don't know, if the cold weather time already has it's general health impact. But since Thursday morning, I got some lighter sickness going on, but with unspecifical feelings/symptoms. On Wednesday afternoon, I used the rail, last time.

I wasn't knowledged about the Rhino Virus, before, but the description totally matches. Conflicting the upper respiratory tract more or less, in general, combined with an unspecific feeling of sickness.

The sniffles was only in the beginning on Thursday morning and only on the right nose side. Now, there's only a feeling of sickness left, nothing else. No cough, no headache.

Maybe next time in rail using leftover FFP2 masks.

 

[tonyb]

What leaves me scratching my head is how families can afford such homes. The UK average price for four bedrooms is around £425,000 that's almost $560,000 in Uncle Sam's shekels. What a killer inflation is. When Tina and bought our first home in London, a mid terrace, three bedroomed property, it cost £3,500, today that house commands a price of £440,000.

The mortgage rate at the time always fluctuated but the lending rate of two and a half times the higher earner's salary was easily achieved. Today the two and half times scenario of £440,000 is £176,000 How many jobs pay that sort of salary?

Housing costs have escalated at a rate far exceeding that of the overall inflation rate. And yes, I find myself wondering just who is making the kind of scratch it takes to buy even a modest house these days.

Young people are forgiven for thinking I’m being less than honest when I tell them what housing cost when I was their age.

 

[GHT]

Until I removed to Florida in 2022 I lived in this town in suburban Washington, DC. The town expanded rapidly in the 1950's with street after street of one-story brick rambler houses having three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Those houses were selling lately for $700K to $800K.
Someone bought such a house and demolished it, putting it in its place this:
8 Beds · 6.5 Baths · 5,756 Sq. Ft.
This is not unusual.

Selling for almost two and a half million dollars. How do they ever get a buyer? I know that there are millionaires but would they want to live there. $2.5M could probably buy them somewhere in a more desirable area.
Such a project happened in a district of London when I lived there. An article in one of London's evening newspapers pointed out that it might be desirable, but the surrounding homes are nowhere near the same standard, but you still have to 'sell' the area to a prospective buyer.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The housing crisis in my town is completely out of control, but even more out of control is the level of denial from the real-estate and property management profiteers behind it. I look forward with great enthusiasm to the inevitable crash.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^^^^
Remember the 2008 crash? A friend bought a house shortly thereafter for half what the previous “owner” paid a couple years previously.

Prices have more than “recovered” since then. But it’s been 16 years, even if it doesn’t seem it.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

Selling for almost two and a half million dollars. How do they ever get a buyer? I know that there are millionaires but would they want to live there. $2.5M could probably buy them somewhere in a more desirable area.
Such a project happened in a district of London when I lived there. An article in one of London's evening newspapers pointed out that it might be desirable, but the surrounding homes are nowhere near the same standard, but you still have to 'sell' the area to a prospective buyer.

Before I retired I was earning what I thought of as an excellent salary. Looking at the estimated monthly mortgage payment of nearly $15K, it would have taken several simultaneous jobs earning that salary to afford such a house. And that would require that I didn't eat, pay electric and water bills, and go without a mobile phone or cable TV.

This town is ideally located. It's less than a mile from the nearest Metro station and cheek-by-jowl with Tyson's Corner. In the 1960's, Tyson's Corner was just that, a cross-roads in the Virginia countryside. Today is has two huge indoor shopping centers and 30 million square feet of office space.

The proximity to the national capital is no accident. With lawyers, lobbyists, and contractors everywhere, the money for these houses is coming from well, if not the taxpayers, given how much of the budget consists of borrowed money and not tax revenue, the Federal government.

From time to time proposals are floated to de-centralize government agencies and spread them around the country. In that unlikely event, the market for these will crater.

 

[Turnip]

Until I removed to Florida in 2022 I lived in this town in suburban Washington, DC. The town expanded rapidly in the 1950's with street after street of one-story brick rambler houses having three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Those houses were selling lately for $700K to $800K.
Someone bought such a house and demolished it, putting it in its place this:
8 Beds · 6.5 Baths · 5,756 Sq. Ft.
This is not unusual.

Hahaha, what a clunker for the money.

On the other hand, as long as enough idiots get up every morning, with and without enough money…

 

[tonyb]

The housing crisis in my town is completely out of control, but even more out of control is the level of denial from the real-estate and property management profiteers behind it. I look forward with great enthusiasm to the inevitable crash.

And should that crash occur those people likely won’t be the ones with their pockets turned inside out. I’ve heard it referred to as “the greater fool theory,” but the difference between a genius real estate investor and that fool is mostly a matter of timing, which is itself mostly a matter of luck.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Too many of the people here imagine themselves as big players because they leveraged a bunch of mortgages into AirBnB fortunes after watching a Yoo Toob seminar. House of cards, meet a good stiff wind.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^^
I dunno (if I did I’d be far richer), but I’ve long argued that the effects of accessory dwelling units and short-term rentals on their communities hinges on how well they are regulated.

An acquaintance made a fortune in the short-term rental business (she started an agency in her resort town something like 30 years ago, before most people ever heard of the phenomenon) and I had my downstairs ADU on Airbnb for about three years. In the former case, most of the properties were owned by affluent people from the major population centers some three or four hours away by car. Those houses were, for those owners, recreational properties that typically sat unoccupied for much of the year until that acquaintance of mine came along. In the latter case the revenue financed improvements to the property, which had the secondary effect of improving the neighborhood and was of some benefit to the state and the municipality, what with the tax revenue it generated.

Effective regulation will vary from location to location. In my district, short-term rentals are permitted only in ADUs, and only on properties occupied by owners or lessees as the primary residence. So my neighborhood will never turn into a motel with freestanding “rooms” as long as those restrictions remain in place (and are enforced).

It can be reasonably argued that allowing ADUs in my district makes for greater affordability, seeing how it generates revenue for the primary residents (certainly makes it more affordable for them), just as it can be reasonably argued that it further fuels the escalation in property values, what with primary residences also becoming income properties.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Isn't Re(i)nforcé bedclothing a marketing gag??

I mean, isn't that the same as Grandma's and Grand-Grandma's longliving, extra sturdy-woven basic cotton fabric?