Merv's Politically Incorrect Audio Blog

The Guardian stands out as an essentially decent newspaper. The British government doesn't even know the word decency. I'd rather have a newspaper with some standards, than a government without. And they are not even good at what they are supposed to do: the party of British capitalism is destroying Britain. Sorry, has destroyed.

 

The Guardian is a newspaper that you have to take with a grain of salt. Daily reports and/or articles fine. The opinion pieces and human rights articles be careful.

I used to like that newspaper, not anymore. Also sometimes certain people in high places who enjoy their tea in their ivory towers are not to be taken seriously. They can keep Brexit and stay away.

 

That's how lies turn into "science", "science" into "reality" and "reality" into political choices:

 

I hope that by the end of the Summer everybody has had their vaccine(s).

I am lucky to get by but this is not living.

 

@purr1n you think this housing market will stop being hot one day?

Supply and Demand for housing is utter nuts ATM, which could make me priced out of FL of all things....

 

It's insane. New 300sqft under air's, bone stock template homes are up for 400kin a high crime area. Somebody got shot in a traphouse a couple blocks over just a couple of months ago. Here I am in a 3-bed/800, in a much nicer part, that would've went for ~220 just a few years ago. The lowest rent here is probably $1200. You could be making mortgage payments on a whole ass house for you what you'll end up paying to rent a shithole. I don't think my parent's mortgage payments are much higher. For that, you're getting a place to sleep and put things, while my parents live in a fairly large, beautiful home. I rented a 2-bedroom apartment for $500 in 2010 and that was considered normal here for a decent cheap place.

 

Tell me about. The apartments in my area cost for a 1/1 about $600-$700 a few years ago, now they are hitting $1100. I'm paying $935 ATM before all the other costs. Bigger issue is FL is a lower wage state, so the locals can't really compete with the guys moving from the Northeast. If it wasn't for me having my GF as a roommate, I would need to either rent a room or move back with my father's house and live rent free while I save my income.

Something will have to give where things will crash...I think a crash will be more like the later than sooner. With the low rates, gov saying no evictions, and more jobs going remote there are tons of factors that are causing things to go up to the moon.

 

It is pretty crazy. My girlfriend (now wife) and I bought a semi-detached 3 bed/2 bath last summer in DC (NE) right as things were heating up and by the time we were closing it already appraised for a decent chunk more than we were paying. Now houses around us are going for even more in worse shape and offers over asking are pouring in as soon as they're on the market. We definitely bought at the perfect time, if we were looking now we'd be priced out of anything similar

 

Not in Dallas for sure. The issue is low supply and high demand even into the foreseeable future. And, the homes they are building here are for people moving from out of state from high priced areas like Cali. So high 300k to 500k homes. Anything in the low 300k will net you a nice 45 minute ride out for new construction or you can get a 300k new build in high crime areas. We’re trying to find a house before our lease is up.

 

In FL 20% down payment isn't enough. It's paying 100% with cash that will outbid more than your asking price is what is flying stuff out of the housing market. Condos and housings are building and flying off the market pretty fast. However, not enough people to build the houses and materials costs are up the roof. By the time a house is ready to be for sale, you are maybe looking at $350k+. Currently my income and savings can only allow me to do $250k-$300k...but even that is no longer acceptable unless I wanna go deep in rural FL or rural Southern US in general (which might be good if you are required, but bad if you need to be near a city for work).

At this point I'm thinking about not worry about buying, suck it up on renting increases, and just use the spare monies for savings/retirements/investments.

 

@YMO I've always heard housing is cheaper there but I don't want to presume, 375k for how large a place?

 

The problem is housing is becoming more of a income generating vehicle for the investment class rather than something that what’s left of the middle class can aspire to. This is by design.

The original WEF video was deleted (and this was the first normal looking copy I saw) but it’s part of the omnipresent globalist “build back better” mantra.

 

real estate is nuts man.. I've seen appraisal for houses go up 100k or ~20% in the last year. (for a 3bd 2 bath)
Portland market being the cheapest big city on the west coast is fast on its way to becoming like Seattle.

For instance, the house next to mine sold in december .. bought all cash by a San Fran resident. Has been sitting empty since. Its a 3 bed 2 bath with a full ADU on a 1/4 acre plot.

Sold for 560.

House opposite is pending right now, asking 530k. Not nearly as nice, same sq footage. no 600sq ft ADU and on Half the size plot. my hunch is it will close for more than 530k.

WHile i agree with your viewpoint here about it being marketed as a investment vehicle, but that video made me

 

US is a big nation...so $375k can get you a shack someplace in the west coast or a giant home in the lower populated parts of the US.

 

You were talking around you in FL so that's what I was asking about.

 

$375k can get you a lot of places, and ATM that might be the average selling price for a house right now. The issue is able to afford it. My buying power right now is only $250k after calculations.

 

These two points really, and then we can add influx of foreign money combined with a weird narrow special 'new upper middle class' (read techies in SF / Seattle for example, but that group is popping up everywhere now).

The focus on single family homes and associated economics of condos produce insane effects. I looked at buying a flat in Seattle originally, and it just made no sense - it was only somewhat cheaper than just buying a house at face value, but you were locked into very high HOA costs (1k+ a month). So, condos make no sense, house are limited in supply if you want to have a decent commute, a lot of employers insist in staying in large population centers, and throw in the growing "special" class (and it seems to be growing faster than house supply), and tadaa - everyone (90% of the people) are priced out of ownership in the area. SF bay area and Seattle are case studies on how this looks - now you can look at the situation in your local city and guess what's coming. Minneapolis, DC/Arlington, Boston, Denver, Austin, LA, SD are already well on their way in the same direction. Got a small local Google or Amazon office? Writing is on the wall.

I am curious how things are going to change with remote working options slowly opening up in the tech industry. I bet we are going to see even more stories like Bozeman.

 

Atlanta's been headed down this path for the past 7-8 years. As more and more companies move into town because of business friendly incentives, more and more people move here. My previous house was bought for $260K in 2012 and sold for $420K in 2017.

A large part of the problem is that new housing is not as simple as just building. We have some of the worst traffic in the nation and building more housing simply means more cars. 20 years ago rush hour was literally an hour. Now it starts at 5am and ends at 8pm. In the burbs where I live now, any hint of more housing is met with fierce resistance. People simply are not ok with spending their lives on a 7 lane parking lot.

Long story short, you can't just build more new houses. You have to also build out the supporting infrastructure for all the new cars, people, stores, gas stations, etc., etc.