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Kilkrazy wrote: I read somewhere that a householder should expect to spend 1% of their property's value per year on maintenance and/or savings for big ticket items (new roof, etc.)
I have a savings account that I have auto transfers from my checking to that account every week that is just for home maintenance. Not a lot but over time it helps. I had a big chunk in there when I needed my pool pump replaced, and splurged on a variable speed pump since I had the money already set aside. Never had to touch my real savings or use a credit card. I also had some in there to blunt the cost of replacing the AC unit last year. The thing about that particular account is that I do not use it for anything else than home maintenance. Just don't even include it in my net worth. Its strictly for upcoming home repair. Most people don't do that, so they have to whip out a credit card or something and you know how difficult those things can be to pay off quickly.
As far as the new roof, I am sure most people get home equity loans, which sucks. And the time of year also impacts the cost (replacing a roof in Florida costs a lot more in the summer than it does in the winter, and it barely rains here in the winter so the likelihood you need to do it then is rare). So it typically goes that the needed repair will come at the worst possible time. And I got lucky when my AC unit went. It was in Feb and we had a REALLY mild winter, so I really never needed the heat. I got a great deal on a Trane Heat Pump basically because it was Feb and a slow time period for AC install guys. In the summer I would have paid a lot lot more. But you can't survive in Florida without an AC unit in summer, so peeps have to pay the premium prices.
Overread wrote: The main problem is that most things will not go wrong for years and then multiple things will go wrong all in a very short span of time as they all get old at the same rough rate. It's worse today because we live in a throw-away society where replacement parts are often hard to find; where repair work alone costs a lot of man hours and where some direct order parts are priced so high that - basically - you are better off financially buying a new one than paying to repair the old one (unless you can do the repair work yourself).
Which is what I did. I didn't have the time nor the will to tear apart the old powerhead, figure out what parts might be worth replacing, and then wait for those parts to arrive and then hope that repair work fixes it. Not to mention I was in the middle of doing my yard, and with all the rain we get in the summer in Florida, we literally have to cut our grass here every week, so I would have to have all this resolved by next weekend anyway. It was 90 degrees out and I was already exhausted and the last thing I wanted to do was deal with that. The powerhead should have been less that $150 and based on that I was okay just getting another. I just didn't expect it to be bundled with the trimmer.
JohnHwangDD wrote: Apartment blocks need to have a retail ground floor, simple as that.
This is something that's happening around here, while they're building an entire complex that's roughly in the middle of no where, the complex itself is supposed to have commercial space on the first floor of most of the buildings to support a relatively self contained living area, aside from work for most residents.
Seems like a decent enough idea, certainly beats out another track of housing starting at twice what I've paid for my house for something built half as well. Still lost as to how people dump that much on a house and don't get at least enough property to have some privacy in their home.
Meanwhile everything sub about 250k(usd, upstate ny) draws a crowd, sub 200k is a warzone, you'd think folks would build some ranches again for cheap and sell them. Doesn't seem to be happening. All McMansions.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/07/30 15:11:39
JohnHwangDD wrote: Apartment blocks need to have a retail ground floor, simple as that.
Meanwhile everything sub about 250k(usd, upstate ny) draws a crowd, sub 200k is a warzone, you'd think folks would build some ranches again for cheap and sell them. Doesn't seem to be happening. All McMansions.
The McMansion costs about the same to build and develop as the rancher, but is worth at least twice as much for just the structure. Housing developers only care about maximizing their profit.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/07/30 15:24:15
feeder wrote: Frazz's mind is like a wiener dog in a rabbit warren. Dark, twisting tunnels, and full of the certainty that just around the next bend will be the quarry he seeks.
JohnHwangDD wrote: Apartment blocks need to have a retail ground floor, simple as that.
This is something that's happening around here, while they're building an entire complex that's roughly in the middle of no where, the complex itself is supposed to have commercial space on the first floor of most of the buildings to support a relatively self contained living area, aside from work for most residents.
Seems like a decent enough idea, certainly beats out another track of housing starting at twice what I've paid for my house for something built half as well. Still lost as to how people dump that much on a house and don't get at least enough property to have some privacy in their home.
Meanwhile everything sub about 250k(usd, upstate ny) draws a crowd, sub 200k is a warzone, you'd think folks would build some ranches again for cheap and sell them. Doesn't seem to be happening. All McMansions.
I was in Hong Kong last year and in most of the areas, especially in the Mong Kok area, many of the apartment buildings have commercial space on the ground floor. Many many small businesses, A lot of little grocery stands and that sort of thing. In the evenings things are pretty lively there. Everyone comes out of their cramp apartments down to the street level where there are street performers, cafe's, etc. Even on Sunday night at midnight it was like a party.
The thing is, there is a large enough population around the area to support all of these small businesses, and many of these businesses were the same kind (vegetable stands, convenience stores, food stalls, etc. Most of these apartment buildings are 15+ stories. Lots of families. Except in the really urban areas in the US, most apartment buildings have been two story, then moving up to 3, and lately in my area, moving up to 4. These, in my opinion, don't have enough people in them to support a business like a coffee shop, crossfit gym, or smoothie place, let alone some other business. Most of the commercial space I see in my area in places like these are vacant. In places like Manhattan, sure, those work and we see that. But most of the US doesn't live in apartments that tall, and most new ones are built within a community with even a gate.
I think the model could work in some areas, but you just need a lot of people in that area and businesses that cater to those people. Yes, you could stick a random business in there that isn't dependent on those occupants, but then you also have an issue with parking, because the spaces in the area are going to most likely be taken up by the people living in that area. I don't like hunting for a parking spot or parking a few blocks away. I know I am spoiled.
BTW: The whole time I was in Hong Kong, I constantly thought of my big back yard and how lucky I was to have it. Before Hong Kong I was in Mumbai. I have seen the future of overpopulation and it isn't pretty.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2018/07/30 15:48:08
KTG17 wrote: Most of the commercial space I see in my area in places like these are vacant. In places like Manhattan, sure, those work and we see that. But most of the US doesn't live in apartments that tall, and most new ones are built within a community with even a gate.
The specific design I saw was 5 to 10 story buildings with the larger buildings having commercial space in them for both typical store fronts and office space in higher floors, with I believe 15-20 buildings clustered in a relatively small area designed after the 'big city' structure if I'm going to use their words. I'm curious to see how it works, but I didn't see any massive flaws readily apparent in the initial design other than it being more or less in the middle of nowhere itself. But given the general sprawl of the last ten years, it probably won't be in the next ten.
The model seems to be proving effective with a number of larger apartment buildings being made in the area (4-5 stories in burbs, 10+ in the city) immediately next to or over commercial space has been doing reasonably well despite some on going jokes. That said, this same area has made buying a house roughly as expensive as renting a two bedroom apartment recently, so either the rental market has absurd demand or the fact that three companies that own property in the area may be working against everyone who actually lives here.
KTG17 wrote:The thing is, there is a large enough population around the area to support all of these small businesses, and many of these businesses were the same kind (vegetable stands, convenience stores, food stalls, etc. Most of these apartment buildings are 15+ stories. Lots of families. Except in the really urban areas in the US, most apartment buildings have been two story, then moving up to 3, and lately in my area, moving up to 4. These, in my opinion, don't have enough people in them to support a business like a coffee shop, crossfit gym, or smoothie place, let alone some other business. Most of the commercial space I see in my area in places like these are vacant. In places like Manhattan, sure, those work and we see that. But most of the US doesn't live in apartments that tall, and most new ones are built within a community with even a gate.
It also works with 3, 4, or 5 stories on top of the stores. But you need a certain overall density of that type of housing and not just a few of those and then a lot of big houses for one family each next to those. It seems that the US has mostly bet on cars and thus made those sprawling cities possible and that's hard to reverse because it's about fundamental urban planning differences. That makes public transportation in less dense urban areas a bit inefficient and leads to further dependencies on cars. So it's either highly dense areas or rural areas where you only have a few neighbours and the possibilities in between don't get much of a chance.
And I've read about how a lot of the US population sees new public transportation as something that's implemented for the working class and exactly as something for everyone. So people with cars tend to keep using those.
It's not that hard to have small retail like a corner market, sandwich shop, barber, dry cleaner and/or a convenience store in the first floor of something like this, even if it's only 4 stories total.
Nobody's putting in a Walmart Supercenter on the ground level. More like having your neighborhood 7-11 and McDonalds in the suburbs. Rather than having a bunch of spread out houses, they're denser and walkable/bikeable.
JohnHwangDD wrote: It's not that hard to have small retail like a corner market, sandwich shop, barber, dry cleaner and/or a convenience store in the first floor of something like this, even if it's only 4 stories total.
Dry cleaners I'm not so sure about as they have all kinds of piping and chemical whatnots that may screw up modern permitting (Obviously, this situation does play out in cities like NYC and some others, but how many towns/cities in the US "want" to give the OK for a dry cleaner?)
The last time I was in Portland, Oregon, there were some newer buildings where the ground or ground + mezzanine were a Safeway (grocery store chain out west, if ya dont have them) or a Whole Foods and whatnot, but those are "pure" grocery stores and not those monstrosities that Walmart like to build. But the usual case for stores like these is that they take up the entire block which may present some hurdles for those bigger stores and their "investment" in that ground floor retail space. For those businesses there's a big risk (not really, but ya hear many of them use rhetoric to this effect) in the ground floor, if the apartments/housing units above don't move.
And I've read about how a lot of the US population sees new public transportation as something that's implemented for the working class and exactly as something for everyone. So people with cars tend to keep using those.
That is because in many areas, our public transportation is unreliable. Just like we prefer Uber to our disgusting cabs, its going to take work to get most of us to come around to public transportation. My local public transportation, SEPTA, is so unreliable most employers frown upon hiring someone without a car because the delays in our buses and trains are the only reliable thing.
feeder wrote: Frazz's mind is like a wiener dog in a rabbit warren. Dark, twisting tunnels, and full of the certainty that just around the next bend will be the quarry he seeks.
One thing I wonder is what prices these small stores can charge. I'm all for amenities within as I think that is a very sound idea; however are they going to charge less than Tescos direct home delivery?
Right now most food corner shops are gone; they just can't compete with supermarkets unless they are a good 30 mins from the nearest one and even then the local store might be more emergency/odd purchases not the weekly shop location.
The only things I see holding on are actual food outlets selling cooked/prepared food for consumption on site or for take-away. Even then if your home is one floor up it might just be too close to home for them to do well - again unless the price is very low.
I wonder how long term they will be in this age where supermarkets and the internet dominate the retail market.
The typical grocery store here out West has a micro bank, a Starbucks, and some sort of deli sandwich, in addition to groceries - so it's the same mix, but with just one set of doors outside. There is always going to be the desire to pick fresh produce, to have fresh pizza or coffee, etc.
And I've read about how a lot of the US population sees new public transportation as something that's implemented for the working class and exactly as something for everyone. So people with cars tend to keep using those.
That is because in many areas, our public transportation is unreliable. Just like we prefer Uber to our disgusting cabs, its going to take work to get most of us to come around to public transportation.
Uber is public transportation. The fact that it uses an app and cars are generally newer doesn't change the fact that it's a slightly more modern version of a taxi service.
jouso wrote: Uber is public transportation. The fact that it uses an app and cars are generally newer doesn't change the fact that it's a slightly more modern version of a taxi service.
It's also expensive as balls compared to a proper bus service and it's business structure can't be supported in less dense areas.
That's true of many things, which is why people tend to gravitate to towns and cities and why governments essentially have to subsidize universal service for inhabitants of rural areas.
And I've read about how a lot of the US population sees new public transportation as something that's implemented for the working class and exactly as something for everyone. So people with cars tend to keep using those.
That is because in many areas, our public transportation is unreliable. Just like we prefer Uber to our disgusting cabs, its going to take work to get most of us to come around to public transportation.
Uber is public transportation. The fact that it uses an app and cars are generally newer doesn't change the fact that it's a slightly more modern version of a taxi service.
I don't particularly count Uber (or taxi's) as public transportation. It is still one car driving one party to a destination, same as the person paying for it driving themselves. I mean mass transit, which are our buses and trains and subways.
And we have already touched on the issues with out taxis in a different thread.
feeder wrote: Frazz's mind is like a wiener dog in a rabbit warren. Dark, twisting tunnels, and full of the certainty that just around the next bend will be the quarry he seeks.
JohnHwangDD wrote: It's not that hard to have small retail like a corner market, sandwich shop, barber, dry cleaner and/or a convenience store in the first floor of something like this, even if it's only 4 stories total.
Nobody's putting in a Walmart Supercenter on the ground level. More like having your neighborhood 7-11 and McDonalds in the suburbs. Rather than having a bunch of spread out houses, they're denser and walkable/bikeable.
Well being exposed to the type of apartments built in Florida, now usually being built as 4 floor buildings in a gated community, this wouldn't work. And we are typically spread out around here. But in denser cities, sure, but we've seen that already.
There was a development in Jupiter, FL that I cannot remember the name of, that I visited once to see a friend. This was a self-contained housing/condo/apartment community with its own restaurants, grocery store, and even movie theater. We even closed down a bar that was mixed in with the condos and a short walk to their condo. It was pretty cool. Nothing in there was more than 2 stories, and the community was pretty spread out. You literally could spend all your time in there and rarely leave it. But this was built with that intent in mind, and where land was plenty available. I haven't see a place like it since. Its been some time since I went there, so I don't know how its holding up. There has been a pretty big migration from small towns to the bigger cities in Florida, and many of these smaller towns are starting to whither.
And I've read about how a lot of the US population sees new public transportation as something that's implemented for the working class and exactly as something for everyone. So people with cars tend to keep using those.
That is because in many areas, our public transportation is unreliable. Just like we prefer Uber to our disgusting cabs, its going to take work to get most of us to come around to public transportation. My local public transportation, SEPTA, is so unreliable most employers frown upon hiring someone without a car because the delays in our buses and trains are the only reliable thing.
Its not just that, but let's say I take a bus or train somewhere. In all likelihood, neither one is going to take me to the door of where I am going to, so then what? I have to find more transport. Someone on my team lives in NJ and commutes TWO HOURS into Manhattan each way every day using trains and subways. Screw that. Now that is certainly extreme, but I remember in college an idiot professor of mine said the state should build a high speed train going from Tampa to Orlando to alleviate the traffic on I-4, which gets backed up from all the moron tourists who can't drive around Disney. I was like, ok so I take a train into Orlando or Tampa and then what? It drops me off at a train station and then how do I navigate the many more miles I might need to to go where ever I am going? Orlando is a huge area. Trying to bounce around using buses or whatever would be really time consuming. And taxis are expensive. For the cost of a taxi to the airport around here, I might as well just drive myself and pay for extended parking. And then there is the weather too. We're known as the sunshine state, and it gets scorching hot here, but in the summer it also rains a lot. Would be a miserable trip.
I think most Americans and I feel that we don't have a lot of time as it is, and just don't want to spend any of it standing at bus stops, or even walking. And then there are those parents who might have to drop off or pick up kids from daycare and run errands after work or even at lunch and things like that. Might work in really dense areas where everything is in walking distance, but the thing about the US, is that it just isn't very dense. There is a ton of room here. So builders are building where land is cheap and that means things are pretty far from each other.
Maybe in 100 years there will be a lot more thought to zoning these things. But to be honest, I live in the burbs. I do not want to live over a business. I do not want to look outside my window and see a trash container. Or the smells. Messy sidewalks, etc. I am a nice 2.5 miles from a group of stores I can get all my shopping done at, and prefer to keep it that way.
And I've read about how a lot of the US population sees new public transportation as something that's implemented for the working class and exactly as something for everyone. So people with cars tend to keep using those.
That is because in many areas, our public transportation is unreliable. Just like we prefer Uber to our disgusting cabs, its going to take work to get most of us to come around to public transportation. My local public transportation, SEPTA, is so unreliable most employers frown upon hiring someone without a car because the delays in our buses and trains are the only reliable thing.
There's also the issue of time, public transport in most situations is way more time consuming. I did a course at a college that was 20 minutes drive away, but I had no car. It was also 20 minutes on a train, but once you add going to the station, waits for connections and the extra walking I was having to leave more than an hour before class started.
Was so happy when I finally got a car and got to cut out all that travel time on public transport. Not to mention getting to avoid mixing with the high proportion of feral commuters. Public transportation over here is considered for the working class because those are mostly the people willing to put up with the headache and wasted time, that and retired folk who have lots of free time and/or can't drive anyway.
Public transport seems to work better in Europe where more people are packed in to smaller areas closer to their place of work, or where public transport can travel to/from major hubs that actually spit you out somewhere useful. The town where I lived in the USA was spread out enough that the buses clearly had issues covering a useful amount of area, even the folks I knew without cars didn't really rely on public transport.
Where do you put the oil well and herd of longhorns? Wait, you don't have an oil well in your living room? What kind of barbarian are you?
-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
-TBone the Magnificent 1999-2014, Long Live the King!
Formosa wrote: Would a cap not just mean that most houses would be the top end of that cap?
In theory a regional based cap based on the local economic situation could allow local people to purchase properties within the area instead of being forced into rental or moving out of the region. The problem is that sellers won't want a cap as they want the best possible sale price. Furthermore as a cap essentially lowers the price it must come with other restrictions and legislation as well; otherwise rental groups would just buy up all the capped properties anyway - it would benefit them as the houses would be more affordable.
Like many issues its not just fixable with a simple slap on a cap; esp in today's world where you can even buy overseas properties with relative ease. Rental is a very attractive market because provided that you approve the right kind of person you can make quite a considerable to a massive income without having to do vast amounts of work (good properties in the right location will basically print money - yes you do have maintenance costs ontop, but the rents should still be able to cover them if managed correctly).
It's all a balancing act as the market does also need rental properties (and they are at least active housing and not as bad as second homes which can take properties out of the housing market and puts additional pressure to build more housing).
BuFFo wrote: No. It is morally offensive to have "Force" dictate what I'm allowed to do with my property.
Ooh, how cute, a libertarian extremist. I'm glad we have people like you to lobby for the rights of individuals to use their property for toxic waste dumps in the middle of densely populated areas, and I support you 100% in abolishing all government that could possibly hinder your private property rights.
There is no such thing as a hobby without politics. "Leave politics at the door" is itself a political statement, an endorsement of the status quo and an attempt to silence dissenting voices.
I hate to sound critical of the poor guy,but he should probably have been more active in overseeing the property as soon as the weeds in the backyard started growing; that's always a bad sign.
I've seen even worse from renters paying full rent - try a house where rooms are full of bags of trash, and dog poo all over the basement. I've also seen section 8 renters leave a property in better shape than when they moved in after they made many small repairs. In the end, some renters have no respect for the owners at all, no personal pride, and all sorts of odious habits that make them a nightmare to rent to. It's not restricted to section 8 renters by any means.
I do think that section 8 housing should be subject to minimal-notice inspections. That might help the situation a bit...
JohnHwangDD wrote: It sounds like the problem was that he followed the law.
That is very subjective to localities tho. . . The house I was renting out, the property management company had it in contract that they could inspect the house while rented at minimum once a month.
I'm with Vulcan here. . . People are people. There are gak people who pay full price as much as there are amazing people who need assistance, and every range in between. If you're going to rent a property, it helps to know and understand your rights as a property owner for your location.
So remember my earlier posts here about the costs of owning a home beyond the mortgage and all the things that can break? Last weekend I went out to cut my grass and noticed the valve for my reclaimed water was leaking and spraying water all over the side of my house. I was sick with the flu, its was over 90 degrees out, and that is the last thing I wanted to deal with. So had to go to home depot and buy replacement parts. I did a really nice job with the new plumbing, only to find small amounts of water coming out of the new valve handle (manufacturer fault). Are you kidding me. Just not going to deal with that right now. For those that don't know, reclaimed water only costs $9 a month.
But then on Sunday I noticed my hot water heater has a leak. Its the original that came with the house so I can't complain. However a new one runs $600-700, then there is the cost of having it installed with usually runs another $300. I am lucky tho to have a family friend down the street who will install the new one for $75. So actually going to spend a little extra on a really nice unit.
I assume the hot water heater leak and valve leak are linked, probably due to the county kicking up the water pressure in my area. As more and more houses are built, they have to jack that up a bit, and if you have weakness in your pipes, sprinkler lines, etc, that will certainly let you know.
But again, this is the crap that pops up that people do not think about, let alone are prepared for. And many have no choice to whip out a credit card.
If you do not have thousands of dollars set aside for this stuff when you get a house, or are unable to set money aside to build that up while owning a home, DO NOT OWN A HOME. They can be amazing, I love mine, but to say they are expensive and take a lot of responsibility is just scratching the surface.
This message was edited 5 times. Last update was at 2018/09/18 14:25:53
I would rather we make a law that property has to be lived in for a certain time rather than sit there. When I was in Santa Cruz, we has houses bought up by the Chinese for investment, that just sat there. So you had tons of houses that could be lived in for students, the poor and so on, but nope.
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