There needs to be some standard addendum attached to homes as an option that anyone selling a home can attach to the sale. Something like: This house cannot be used as an investment vehicle. It cannot be sold by a real-estate agent with a contract of more than 1%. It cannot be used as a rental. It cannot be sold for more than inflation would allow. Anyone found violating this addendum may be sued. All proceeds from t…
My job is to watch dreams die (2011)
161–170 of 185 posts
Re: My job is to watch dreams die (2011)
#162Earlier quoted context omitted.
> a handful of lemons I'm having trouble parsing this. A lemon is a bad thing that happens to you, but this seems like it was a good thing for you?
> A lemon is a bad thing that happens to you, but this seems like it was a good thing for you? Probably referencing "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade", not like a car is a lemon.
Re: My job is to watch dreams die (2011)
#163Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unfortunately the Cruelty Industry is huge and there is a lot of money to be made putting the screws to the most financially vulnerable people. Banks, the lending industry (including credit card companies, mortgage and student loans), debt collectors, repo men, payday loan stores and check cashers, not to mention the entire legal system, ugh... To me it's sick that they can upend someone's life just because they didn…
It is really a problem that so many people in America make a living - what they consider a decent, respectable, fulfilling living - in positions where it's their job to make someone else's life worse. I don't think we've fully considered the deleterious social effects this has. It's not just rent-seeking, with all the perverse incentives that entails. It's rent-seeking on widespread suffering, with all the perverse i…
Re: My job is to watch dreams die (2011)
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
>> Having been able to pay off my house has had the most tremendous postive impact on my mental health I think Agree on that. I own my house with no mortgage since before the pandemic and it doesn't make much financial sense to pass up a 3% mortgage but it makes mental health sense. Yes, I owe property taxes. Yes, the city could raise them. If I completely stopped paying them today, it would take them a decade to kic…
Holy shit... That property tax is awfull thing. It should never ever happen. Not to simple people, owning one property, aka home. So much freedom, country of dreams...
Re: My job is to watch dreams die (2011)
#165Earlier quoted context omitted.
Holy shit... That property tax is awfull thing. It should never ever happen. Not to simple people, owning one property, aka home. So much freedom, country of dreams...
Without property tax, who pays for the infrastructure and first responders? The no taxes, no rules, and no local government services thing was tried many times without success: in one New Hampshire town, they got overran by bears[1] - who could have guessed regulations on trash handling and animal control might be good for something? 1. https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/21534416/free-state-...
Re: My job is to watch dreams die (2011)
#166Earlier quoted context omitted.
Indeed. When I lived in an apparent, got a very angry knock at the door. Before I even got up, manager already was unlocking the door without asking, with a formal eviction notice in hand. Every month I faithfully put my rent check in an envelope, deposited the slot at the office. That month they accidentally threw away the check after opening the envelope. They really didn’t believe I had paid, despite being a good…
I think this is part of the reason people don't want to live in big city condo buildings with co-ops or communal fees/maintenance. Even if you own your place you don't really own it and these other entity that care nothing about, your bill situation, etc you can impact your housing situation. If I have a place in the burbs I only have to worry about the soulless local government.
The more common reason people often don't want to live in big city condo buildings is simply because they offer less space than single-family homes. There's a balance to be struck between space, affordability, and proximity to work/amenities, and while everyone prioritizes those three factors differently, a lot of people end up finding that balance to lie in the suburbs.
> If I have a place in the burbs I only have to worry about the soulless local government.
Unless/until there's an HOA, in which case you're in the exact same predicament, at best.
Re: My job is to watch dreams die (2011)
#167In Portugal, you can take a mortgage with an optional insurance to exempt you from payments if unemployed up to 6 months.
Re: My job is to watch dreams die (2011)
#168Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, thus my question. In that phrase, a "lemon" is a bad thing that is happening to you, which you turn somehow into something good (lemonade).
Lol. Maybe I've misunderstood this idiom my entire life. I've always taken the lemon to be a sort of neutral player since it isn't always trivial to make something better out of a neutral (ie to see the opportunity) and is even less trivial to make a positive spin on a negative thing.
Is English your second language?
Re: My job is to watch dreams die (2011)
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, thus my question. In that phrase, a "lemon" is a bad thing that is happening to you, which you turn somehow into something good (lemonade).
Lol. Maybe I've misunderstood this idiom my entire life. I've always taken the lemon to be a sort of neutral player since it isn't always trivial to make something better out of a neutral (ie to see the opportunity) and is even less trivial to make a positive spin on a negative thing.
Re: My job is to watch dreams die (2011)
#170I've seen a few sides of money. Raised upper class, lost it all and became underclass, then made it back. I'm always amazed at how limited rich people's worldview is. The average software developer, coastal liberal etc. They've never felt terror, the visceral feeling of being terrified. They've never been predated upon. They've never been used and discarded. The underclass lives with this stuff every day, 24/7, and r…