Felt like I read a wonderful book in 5 minutes. That was a (to my mind) politically neutral tour de force that captured the last 150 years of housing policy, grounding its thesis with fascinating images and writing.
Agreed. Great read. Thanks OP!
Grandpa’s Basement House
161–170 of 275 posts
Re: Grandpa’s Basement House
#162Earlier quoted context omitted.
IIRC, we call it racist without the scare-quotes because of it's disproportional effect. That's how that word works.
> That's how that word works. Incorrect. In ordinary usage, “racism” means prejudice based on race. There are efforts by some to muddy its meaning, to encompass both racial prejudice and “disproportionate effect,” but that’s not the common usage.
> In ordinary usage
Sounds like you are referring to a connotative value which is common to a subculture of English speakers. I learned to use the dictionary definition from sociology 101.
Re: Grandpa’s Basement House
#163Earlier quoted context omitted.
I could see front yards but not banning growing vegetable in back yards
I really don’t se why this is a thing for front yards either. Growing vegetables are just as pretty as a lawn, and even if you don’t think so, surely productive use of the land ought to take priority. I find it so strange that such restrictions only seem to exist in the US, where there is normally so much emphasis on individual freedom.
I've often wondered how much overlap there is on people who live in an HOA and people who are opposed to government regulation. I realize government regulation isn't quite the same as HOA regulations, but it's amusing to me how extreme some HOAs are (grass a certain length, no service vehicles, etc) and how the people that live in them are often politically conservative.
Re: Grandpa’s Basement House
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
> That's how that word works. Incorrect. In ordinary usage, “racism” means prejudice based on race. There are efforts by some to muddy its meaning, to encompass both racial prejudice and “disproportionate effect,” but that’s not the common usage.
> In ordinary usage Sounds like you are referring to a connotative value which is common to a subculture of English speakers. I learned to use the dictionary definition from sociology 101.
You definitely didn’t learn the “dictionary definition” in any sociology class, but rather a redefinition of the term developed in social sciences circles that’s used mainly there.
https://www.google.com/search?q=racism&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=...
> noun prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against a person or people on the basis of their membership in a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized. "a program to combat racism"
Re: Grandpa’s Basement House
#165I have a friend who lives in a rural area. He'd like to build a house on some land he owns that is unsuitable for farming (too steep) but he is unable to get a construction loan from the bank as they will not write a loan that is secured only by the property. Incremental construction might be the only way to do it (assuming the county will issue him a building permit that would span 5+ years). Being debt-free within…
He should check this lender https://www.umpquabank.com/ I have been watching some videos from a local builder and he says they will do off-grid construction loans.
Re: Grandpa’s Basement House
#166This style of incremental building seems to be still in existence in Southern Europe. It‘s not uncommon to see unfinished concrete structures. Basically the raw skeleton often with exposed rebar at the top or sides, indicating future work. They may stay in this state for years. As apparently everything is paid in cash and so building only advances whenever the owners have enough at hand.
I saw a good documentary on shell construction in South America as a means to improve access to home ownership, as well as to allow homeowners to significantly customize the homes over time. We don’t see this much in the US but it makes sense to me.
When you are cheap labor you will have big problems getting ahead because of rent. So as soon as you save enough to buy land you do (between inflation and government revolutions banks are not useful, you have better odds your land will be recognized). Until you can afford to get a minimal shelter room on the land though you are renting while owning useless land. Once you have shelter everything that went to rent before can be put into more rooms.
It is a very different world from the ones most of us live in.
Re: Grandpa’s Basement House
#167Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the root of this is treating housing an asset, which justifies all kinds of arguments. My house would probably increase in value a lot if I bulldozed all the others and replaced them with public gardens. The sane place for me to draw the line is where the property ends.
What a great answer to losing a great deal of money: just don’t treat it as an asset! Just ignore the loss, who cares! Sure it’s nice being wealthy, ain’t it.
I’m not saying to ignore the loss, I am saying to limit people’s ability to use the government to protect their asset value by mandating what others do with their property. In my view too many municipalities treat decrease in asset values like a kind of pollution that leaks from your property into the surrounding spaces, and use that logic to force certain uses of people’a property. But unlike physical pollutants that leave properties, the decrease in property value is often a nebulous and subjective force, and enforcement boils down to enforcing conformity with the majority. The harms are nebulously defined and the slope is so slippery that you have neighborhoods where they have slid all the way into mandating color pallets and lawn type and length.
This kind of system doesn’t let people do something as simple as postpone repairs until they can get favorable financing, and ends up a tax on the poor or different to protect an asset for the majority landowners in my view.
Re: Grandpa’s Basement House
#168The idea of HOAs having any kind of say feels so undemocratic, but not in a standard way. We should not tolerate purely popular democracies. We allow representative democracies, and part of that public contract is for our leaders to represent all those in their constituency, not just those who voted for them. That means those in the minority. The crazy guy growing gourds instead of a lawn. The loon with the purple ho…
When I bought my first house, I purposefully avoided any neighborhood with an HOA because of all the internet scare mongering I had heard over the years. After ten years of one neighbor parking cars on their lawn, another growing more weeds than blades of grass, and another with 8 vehicles parked along the street I was done. When I bought my second house I specifically wanted an HOA. After another 6 years, I couldn’t…
Let me ask you, why were you concerned about your neighbors parking in their yard or not weeding their lawn?
Re: Grandpa’s Basement House
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
What the author is describing are rules of homeowner's associations and other similar organizations. Individuals freely enter agreements with homeowner's associations which dictate land use. One is also free to choose to live in a place not governed by these rules. But, they are not the law of the land and they do not implicate a lack of freedom in the U.S. relative to other countries. Its quite silly to suggest as m…
Simple question - if you want to leave HOA and after that grow vegetables, can you do that? If not - it has nothing to do with freedom. It's only propaganda of having the most freedom when citizens of a lot of "non free" countries (by American standards) will laugh at your absurds. I'm not saying USA is not free country - of course you are free. I'm only saying that telling that you have the most freedom is at least…
Depends. The HOA is a contract with your neighbors, so if they agree the HOA can be ended. See a lawyer, state law and your contract for details that very much matter and are different fof each.
A few houses ago my hoa could be ended automatically after 2018. I moved out just after then, but the only limit I remember was no more than five cows were allowed, I didn't find that a problem.
Re: Grandpa’s Basement House
#170Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanking people for the work that they've done -- unpaid -- that has benefited me directly and saved me money just feels like the right thing to do. I was raised to appreciate efforts that others take on my behalf and it's served me well so far. I hope your approach is working as well for you.
Do you give annual gifts to your building or office cleaning staff? Or just people who have unaccountable authority over you.
They're his neighbors, Ray.