I would've thought it was through importation/distribution of illegal drugs and/or booze (during prohibition). Or maybe that was just seed money to use to then buy up all the real estate. I'm being serious!
Well, if we say "Americans" as in Canada, U.S., Mexico, and South America, then yes, totally. But not in the United States.
In the 1980s, you did have big-time drug lords that flaunted their wealth in places like Miami and El Paso, and even LA. But the U.S. has really cracked down on all of that. The drug lords are very wealthy in Mexico... but you don't really have "drug lords" here in the U.S. anymore since they can't really operate. I mean, there are people selling drugs and "distributors" as there are in any major city in the world... but no drug lords.
Putting aside people who invent things, are in the tech industry, or the wealthy who move to America that /already had/ wealth, the vast majority of wealthy in the U.S. got their money from real estate.
Imagine what's going on where you were just talking about in Canada. Imagine if someone came in when those homes were dumpy or at their lowest point in modern value, when the neighborhood had perhaps taken a turn for the worst or when the neighborhood was old enough that it it started needing work and values were stagnant. Imagine someone comes in and buys as many homes as they can with a partner or another investor. They start flipping them, and then they go for bigger and bigger projects.
The thing about real estate, there are really no other areas where a bank is willing to loan you hundreds of thousands of dollars at such an insanely low interest rate.
We also don't really "tax" profits made from real estate below $250k (in most states that is), so it's an easy way to make money, if you're willing to do hard work. It doesn't require a PhD in neuroscience to flip a house. It only requires an internet connection to access YouTube videos, and some expendable cash... and a willingness to do it.
I don't want this to come off sounding bad, but I "flipped" a home in San Antonio. I lived in it for 4 years, but bought a home for $220k. It was a wreck, but had good bones, and it was all original from 1983. I totally renovated the home, doing about +90% of the work entirely myself. I only got maybe 8 months of living in it with it being "perfect" ... but when I sold it, I took a ~$200k profit. Right in the bank. I'd never had anything like that in my entire life.
Based on the above posting, I have to assume that variable home loans are a big deal in Canada. Initially low interest rates that can rise/fall within agreed upon limits (normally set by the lender). If so, those can be a real problem and I'm surprised people use them.
quote
Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]:
I don't know about the comment though about their mortgage rates increasing. Most people today purchase homes at a fixed interest rate. 30-Year "Fixed." It's not like it was in 2007 when you had a lot of people with adjustable rate mortgages.
I had already responded to these two posts previously Here, but the article below explains in further detail the current issues with mortgages in Canada.
I don't want this to come off sounding bad, but I "flipped" a home in San Antonio. I lived in it for 4 years...
Todd, the "flipping" I'm referring to, was occurring over a time span of closer to four days! I'll see if I can track down an article.
quote
Originally posted by Patrick:
I certainly don't feel sorry for the "flippers" when they get burned. There was quite a scam going on here that supposedly has been curtailed, but it was the real estate agents themselves who were flipping homes for huge profits. Scumbags.
[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 07-18-2022).]
This was to be expected, such events always have a global impact on the economy. My family and I live on a ranch, we`re in the meat trade and so far I wouldn't say we`re much affected, petrol has gone up a little, but we`re not going to raise prices for a couple of months yet. I couldn't make up my mind for a long time because I didn't see the need for it, but with my wife we decided to rent out our apartment since we live in a single-family house and aren`t going to move into town for a few years. The service https://onstage-online.com helped us a lot, at first I couldn`t understand why we need it, but my wife convinced me. This way we found tenants faster.
[This message has been edited by bestieman (edited 08-01-2022).]
Todd, the "flipping" I'm referring to, was occurring over a time span of closer to four days! I'll see if I can track down an article.
I cannot even imagine what a house "flipped" in 4 days would even look like.
There was a guy on my block who "flipped" a house in 2 months, and I went to the open house. They asked me to give my opinion and even gave me an item sheet to put my comments on... basically, they were getting a free inspection out of me.
Place was f**king horrible.
Crooked light switches, nickle and chrome door knobs that looked like they were purchased used from Habitat for Humanity Home Re-Store... on doors that had mostly painted over BRASS door hinges. Baseboard looked like it had 15 layers of paint (the home was made in 1983), and they installed some cheap "floating" wood flooring that had simulated wood on it, in which they didn't even bother to mix-up the fake wood planks, so you literally had three of the exact same wood planks literally next to each other. The renovated bathroom... I couldn't even figure out what was renovated in it... I think maybe they replaced the toilet, and the underside of the cabinet looked as if it had been rotting away (particle board), and they filled the gap between the formica and the rotten wood with caulk, which fell out when I stuck my finger under it... and this is the craziest part. These homes were all luxury homes in the city's Encino Park neighborhood. They all had 50-year roof tiles, custom cabinets that were made by live oak literally from a wood shop in San Antonio, with every single cabinet made to exact specifications for each of the homes, all of which were entirely unique and an independent design. The only time where the homes shared the design of another home, they took the floor plan and reversed it by 180 degrees, and they never had the two homes in the same neighborhood. These were really exclusive homes... so the fact that all of this "**** " stuff was installed in this particular home was beyond me. Like, I was shocked... and literally was offended. Each home has a "Sitterle" bronze seal emblazened at the entrance of each of the homes, signifying that the home was made by the luxury home maker. They don't even make **** houses anymore (these were all 3,200 square foot homes), and only make large luxury homes now.
Anyway, this home was a f**king mess. I mean, I was genuinely offended, and had the guy been there I would have told him how much of a sh1t-f@ck that house was.
The guy couldn't even be bothered to match up the colors of the outlets and outlet plates. When I got my home, I literally replaced every single outlet, switch, and plate with matching "modern" Decora. Everything was thought out. I even used micro-expanding foam to seal the box between the drywall, and then used the foam insert to seal the plate to the wall when compressed. I replaced literally every single square inch of baseboard in my home. The only baseboard I kept were the ones that were made out of natural cherry wood that was stained. I salvaged all of it that I could (wood look just didn't match with the kitchen), and I reused it in the closets. Like... I can't even express enough... I made sure that every single door hinge, door knob, latch plate, cabinet knob, closet bracket, and clothing hook was matching Oil Rubbed Bronze. I replaced every exterior door, including a fancy solid mahogany door for the front with a functional speak-easy. Every square inch of flooring was replaced by me except the carpeting (which I paid to have replaced). I had all the underlayment replaced for the roofing, built a new oven / microwave cabinet for the built-ins, installed all the appliances myself, installed a kitchen to attic (to ridge-vent) stove ventilation system to complement the JenAir's downdraft vent. I built an entire air conditioned workshop off the utility room in the garage, insulating it, installing drywall, recessed lighting and shop lighting, with it's own circuit from the panel. I mean, I went ape **** ... and this guy couldn't even caulk the baseboard to the drywall on his **** house.
Like... every room still had popcorn on the ceiling, and in some cases he even spray painted over the popcorn like a retard. I literally scraped every ceiling in the house, then primed, skim-coated, sanded, and then primed again and painted every ceiling surface there was...
Anyway, his house was disgusting, and the people that bought it ended up redoing literally everything he had done. The retard tossed out all the solid oak cabinetry and replaced it with some cheap particle board cabinetry, only for the new owners (after he "flipped it") to tear all that **** out again and throw it out for bulk pickup.
I cannot even imagine what a house "flipped" in 4 days would even look like.
There was a practice, supposedly now curtailed, called shadow flipping. Just read the first few paragraphs of this following article. This report is from six years ago... but the market here is even crazier now than it was back then... which means of course that there are unscrupulous individuals out to make as much money as they can, any which way that they can.
...properties are traded one or more times before a deal closes – legal but controversial flipping that creates opportunities for real estate agents to make multiple commissions and investors to profit tax-free from houses that are not yet technically in their possession.
Because assignment sales are rarely listed publicly, they have created a thriving grey market that is accessible largely to investors, speculators and real estate agents who have insider information.
Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]: I cannot even imagine what a house "flipped" in 4 days would even look like.
There was a guy on my block who "flipped" a house in 2 months, and I went to the open house. They asked me to give my opinion and even gave me an item sheet to put my comments on... basically, they were getting a free inspection out of me.
Place was f**king horrible.
Crooked light switches, nickle and chrome door knobs that looked like they were purchased used from Habitat for Humanity Home Re-Store... on doors that had mostly painted over BRASS door hinges. Baseboard looked like it had 15 layers of paint (the home was made in 1983), and they installed some cheap "floating" wood flooring that had simulated wood on it, in which they didn't even bother to mix-up the fake wood planks, so you literally had three of the exact same wood planks literally next to each other. The renovated bathroom... I couldn't even figure out what was renovated in it... I think maybe they replaced the toilet, and the underside of the cabinet looked as if it had been rotting away (particle board), and they filled the gap between the formica and the rotten wood with caulk, which fell out when I stuck my finger under it... and this is the craziest part. These homes were all luxury homes in the city's Encino Park neighborhood. They all had 50-year roof tiles, custom cabinets that were made by live oak literally from a wood shop in San Antonio, with every single cabinet made to exact specifications for each of the homes, all of which were entirely unique and an independent design. The only time where the homes shared the design of another home, they took the floor plan and reversed it by 180 degrees, and they never had the two homes in the same neighborhood. These were really exclusive homes... so the fact that all of this "**** " stuff was installed in this particular home was beyond me. Like, I was shocked... and literally was offended. Each home has a "Sitterle" bronze seal emblazened at the entrance of each of the homes, signifying that the home was made by the luxury home maker. They don't even make **** houses anymore (these were all 3,200 square foot homes), and only make large luxury homes now.
Anyway, this home was a f**king mess. I mean, I was genuinely offended, and had the guy been there I would have told him how much of a sh1t-f@ck that house was.
The guy couldn't even be bothered to match up the colors of the outlets and outlet plates. When I got my home, I literally replaced every single outlet, switch, and plate with matching "modern" Decora. Everything was thought out. I even used micro-expanding foam to seal the box between the drywall, and then used the foam insert to seal the plate to the wall when compressed. I replaced literally every single square inch of baseboard in my home. The only baseboard I kept were the ones that were made out of natural cherry wood that was stained. I salvaged all of it that I could (wood look just didn't match with the kitchen), and I reused it in the closets. Like... I can't even express enough... I made sure that every single door hinge, door knob, latch plate, cabinet knob, closet bracket, and clothing hook was matching Oil Rubbed Bronze. I replaced every exterior door, including a fancy solid mahogany door for the front with a functional speak-easy. Every square inch of flooring was replaced by me except the carpeting (which I paid to have replaced). I had all the underlayment replaced for the roofing, built a new oven / microwave cabinet for the built-ins, installed all the appliances myself, installed a kitchen to attic (to ridge-vent) stove ventilation system to complement the JenAir's downdraft vent. I built an entire air conditioned workshop off the utility room in the garage, insulating it, installing drywall, recessed lighting and shop lighting, with it's own circuit from the panel. I mean, I went ape **** ... and this guy couldn't even caulk the baseboard to the drywall on his **** house.
Like... every room still had popcorn on the ceiling, and in some cases he even spray painted over the popcorn like a retard. I literally scraped every ceiling in the house, then primed, skim-coated, sanded, and then primed again and painted every ceiling surface there was...
Anyway, his house was disgusting, and the people that bought it ended up redoing literally everything he had done. The retard tossed out all the solid oak cabinetry and replaced it with some cheap particle board cabinetry, only for the new owners (after he "flipped it") to tear all that **** out again and throw it out for bulk pickup.
Sounds like the previous owner of my place. I don't know exactly 'what' he was, but he was NOT a carpenter or electrician.
Flooring everywhere except kitchen,dining and bathrooms is all cheap floating stuff and too much of it is scratched/marred up and it is not fitting right. Little crap but it drives me nuts. Switches that evidently do nothing. He evidently had a fetish for extension cords. He hung several 4' plug in type florescent lights in the little shed and garage but none were anywhere close to an outlet.
Guest bathroom toilet paper holder. Who thehell puts a tp dispenser behind ya?
Look now, at how they did the tile below the tp roll holder.. 1/2" space between the tle and the cabinet.
Nice new sink tho.
Look at the same sink in the mirror reflection..overflow is chipped, missing porcelain and rusting out. (a habitat for humanity reject? )
Main dist panel. Not a single breaker was marked. (I take that back...one had a penciled line off to the side stating "Mark's room". (that was a pain in the ass to trace out too.
The shed out by the pool. Wired for 120v but 'looks like' he brought 12/2 with ground in underground.... using nm romex. No load center of any kind in the shed, lights and outlets all tied together. Just protected by breaker in MDP. Should have, a local load center with at least 3 spaces, a line1, line 2 (neutral) bus and a separate buss for ground bonded to outside copper coated ground rod. Preferably, a main disconnect right outside the building as well. (in outbuildings, you cannot use the house grounding as ground and ground/neutral cannot be tied together anywhere except 1st means of disconnect which is usually MDP.
[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 07-28-2022).]
Not to go political but the US is more than capable of mak8ng up the deficit in oil thst Russia was filling... it's just the damn greenies and our feckless president thst won't let us go after our own energy
A house that I bought back in 1980 had been built in 1916. It had been altered many times over the decades, including being converted to a duplex at some point. I was originally going to do a limited spruce up, but the more I dug into it, the more I realized what needed to be rectified. I think the deciding factor was discovering functional (as in live) light switches and outlets which were attached to the gyproc and which had no boxes (to contain the wiring) behind them. I realized then what a potential fire trap the whole place was!
CLICK FOR FULL SIZE
I ended up gutting the main suite to the exterior studs. Updated all the wiring and plumbing, resized/rearranged all the rooms. It was a renovation that took years to finish. Never, never again!
Back around 2010 mom and dad decided to sell grandma's house. They had been renting it out for about 15 years. 2 different tenants had set up grow-ops in the basement, bypassed meters, over-head irrigation, hydro from the empty one next door....whole 9 yeards.....PLUS 50 years of grandmas "call the neighbor to fix it". (Grandad died in the 50's and she never hooked up again)
Ontario was changing laws so stuff had to meet code before being sold, and they were trying to beat the deadline.
So I moved in for 6 months to do what I could.....aluminum wiring mixed with knob. 1/2 of it couldn't even be traced. Just wire end that started at a switch and went....damned if I ever figured it out. Add to that a mix of vermiculate and cellulose insulation. What is it ? Asbestos ? WHO the hell knows.
Buyer got disclosure, a cheap price and chopped it into student housing and we got the hell outa dodge while gettin was good.
Never again.
[This message has been edited by MidEngineManiac (edited 07-29-2022).]
Sounds like the previous owner of my place. I don't know exactly 'what' he was, but he was NOT a carpenter or electrician.
Flooring everywhere except kitchen,dining and bathrooms is all cheap floating stuff and too much of it is scratched/marred up and it is not fitting right. Little crap but it drives me nuts. Switches that evidently do nothing. He evidently had a fetish for extension cords. He hung several 4' plug in type florescent lights in the little shed and garage but none were anywhere close to an outlet.
Guest bathroom toilet paper holder. Who thehell puts a tp dispenser behind ya?
Look now, at how they did the tile below the tp roll holder.. 1/2" space between the tle and the cabinet.
Look at the same sink in the mirror reflection..overflow is chipped, missing porcelain and rusting out. (a habitat for humanity reject? )
Main dist panel. Not a single breaker was marked. (I take that back...one had a penciled line off to the side stating "Mark's room". (that was a pain in the ass to trace out too.
The shed out by the pool. Wired for 120v but 'looks like' he brought 12/2 with ground in underground.... using nm romex. No load center of any kind in the shed, lights and outlets all tied together. Just protected by breaker in MDP. Should have, a local load center with at least 3 spaces, a line1, line 2 (neutral) bus and a separate buss for ground bonded to outside copper coated ground rod. Preferably, a main disconnect right outside the building as well. (in outbuildings, you cannot use the house grounding as ground and ground/neutral cannot be tied together anywhere except 1st means of disconnect which is usually MDP.
I'm willing to bet the guy put the toilet paper roll there because it was solid (particle board) that he could drill into, rather than having to mount it in drywall, or find a stud to screw part of it into... heh.
As for the tile job... jeeze... yeah, that bugs me. Normally, if I'm going to go through the effort of replacing the tile (at which point you would be changing out the toilet as well), I'm going to pull up the vanity too. I don't know if this is right or wrong, but I always replace the tile and then put the vanity on top of it. Usually because I like vanities that are open on the bottom, but never the less... the only time I've not done that is in my Texas house in the upstairs bathroom, in which I only did a slight renovation. New sinks / faucets, tile, toilet, and wainscotting. I laid the tile, and cut it right up to the base of the vanity. There was no point in me removing it because it was a second floor, and there was no point in me having another 150 pounds of tile sitting under a closed-bottom 96" vanity that no one would ever see... (adding 150+ pounds to the weight of the floor). But I made sure to cut the tile as close to the vanity as possible.
Whatever... I suspect the guy didn't do it himself, but he paid people to do it... and most people just don't give a **** , which is also frustrating... and part of the reason why so many more people try to do things themselves now.
I'm willing to bet the guy put the toilet paper roll there because it was solid (particle board) that he could drill into, rather than having to mount it in drywall, or find a stud to screw part of it into... heh.
They make roll holders that mount only on centerline so you only have to find 1 stud. He used one in the other bathroom.
He was just a lazy sob.
[This message has been edited by maryjane (edited 08-01-2022).]
Gas and electricity prices have skyrocketed lately. I pay a fixed amount every month and at the end of the year, they'll calculate if I'll have to pay extra or I get money back. I now pay about $285 per month, which is already almost 3 times as high as I paid 3 years ago, and almost double of what I pad last year (even though my usage has halved). And for a 775 ft² house, that is a lot.
But it can always get worse I guess. Because of the high energy prices, they predict that by the end of the year, I will have to pay around $4,000 extra, unless I increase my monthly payment to (drumroll please), $690 per month. So yeah, no way I can afford that. Neither can about 3/4 of the population of The Netherlands. It's going to be a bloodbath...
Electricity here is regional, by county/city. We pay separately for the power used, and the transmission costs. Same bill but both costs are itemized.
Last place was about 500 sq.ft (1-bedroom house) and ran about $200/mo....but rural so transmission cost was high
Here we have twice the room (about 900 sq.ft., 2 bedroom) but are in town and run about $110/mo. More use but much lower transmission cost since the power company isnt maintaining lines to just a few houses.
Electric bill isn't quite double from last year, but higher than ever. Water & gas is about the same, ~$40//month. I was paying $100/month for water in San Jose back in 2015.
Gas and electricity prices have skyrocketed lately. I pay a fixed amount every month and at the end of the year, they'll calculate if I'll have to pay extra or I get money back. I now pay about $285 per month, which is already almost 3 times as high as I paid 3 years ago, and almost double of what I pad last year (even though my usage has halved). And for a 775 ft² house, that is a lot.
Whoa!!! My Lord, what is the price of electricity per kilowatt hour?
I'm thankful that while renovating my current home, I decided to have the home fully spray foam insulated. We more than doubled the size of the home with an addition. The home is just over 3800 square feet, two HVACs, one for upstairs, one for downstairs. We only really use the upstairs unit when we have company but, it's usually set at 78 degrees F when not occupied. Yeah, it does kick on, this is Southern Mississippi. Regardless, our highest electricity bill in August was $180.00. That's about equal to what it was before the renovation. Our average usage is very close to what the house used before the renovation. Yeah, I like that foam insulation.
Rams
[This message has been edited by blackrams (edited 09-06-2022).]
Whoa!!! My Lord, what is the price of electricity per kilowatt hour?
I watched a news clip on Bloomburg that stated wholesale electric rates in France have gone from the equivalent of $0.18 per kilowatt hour to to $0.34 per kilowatt hour. And if price controls wouldn't have kicked in they said it could have gone as high as $1 per kw/h in some cases.
They also went on about how France is bringing retired nuclear reactors back online at roughly the rate of one per month and all the reactors in the country will be back in operation by winter. I didn't realize nuclear plants could be turned around that quick.
Crazy.....
This country is no where close in comparison to what Europe is facing this winter. Most of our issues are self inflicted....because we could be pretty self sustaining if we wanted to be.
[This message has been edited by kslish (edited 09-07-2022).]
This country is no where close in comparison to what Europe is facing this winter. Most of our issues are self Biden inflicted....because we could be pretty self sustaining if we wanted to be.
Hope you don't mind my change to your post but, I think the correction is precisely point on.
Rams
[This message has been edited by blackrams (edited 09-07-2022).]
food up a bit cars are better then a year ago still higher then 2019 by a lot
quote
People also ask How much have food prices increased over the past year? Over the last 12 months, grocery prices soared 13.1% — the largest annual increase since the year ending in March 1979, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday. Aug 10, 2022
quote
The level of food price inflation varies depending on whether the food was purchased for consumption at home or away from home:
The food-at-home (grocery store or supermarket food purchases) CPI increased 1.4 percent from June 2022 to July 2022 and was 13.1 percent higher than July 2021; and The food-away-from-home (restaurant purchases) CPI increased 0.7 percent in July 2022 and was 7.6 percent higher than July 2021.
Hope you don't mind my change to your post but, I think the correction is precisely point on.
Rams
I was trying to stay neutral so this thread didn't get thrown in the Politics category.
But yes, there is definitely a distinct difference in energy policy between the two most recent administrations.
Housing is the thing that I notice the most. It was crazy earlier this year how places were selling at astronomical prices and yet they still sold in like 3 days. Now with the much higher interest rates, it's starting to slow but not by much. A house nearby on our road that is slightly bigger (one more bedroom) but has less than half the land, a gravel instead of paved driveway, and no garage, just sold for $239,900 barely two weeks after it was listed for $249,000. This same house sold for $184,900 in late 2019 in the exact same condition as it is currently (i.e. no major home improvements were done).
I figure the net value of our two properties have gone up roughly 50% in value during this craziness, and they'll both be paid off in a few years.
[This message has been edited by kslish (edited 09-07-2022).]
Russia funds a lot of propaganda throughout Europe... in particular, anti-nuclear power.
I know people say... it's because of the reactor in Japan... it isn't. The anti-Nuclear sentiment has been going on for quite some time.
Europe needs all new Gen 3 and Gen 4 reactors to supplement their power. Gen 4 is awesome, it literally uses the waste from Gen 1 / 2 as fuel (and we have plenty of that around the world), making it further inert, and it's significantly more efficient than Gen 1 or 2... and of course... how you decide to make it generate power makes a difference as well (steam, salt, whatever).
Originally posted by kslish: ... France is bringing retired nuclear reactors back online at roughly the rate of one per month and all the reactors in the country will be back in operation by winter. I didn't realize nuclear plants could be turned around that quick.
Unless I'm mistaken in what I heard, I also understand the Germany is mothballing their nuclear reactors. Right now. Makes no sense.
Wouldn't bother me a bit if the price on crap like Coca-Cola was quadrupled. It's not as if pop was a dietary and/or nutritional necessity. Far from it. It would probably benefit the health of a good number of those who are addicted to pop to leave it on the store shelves.
[This message has been edited by Patrick (edited 09-08-2022).]
Wow, I almost feel guilty. The price here is $0.07(US) per kWh for first 1,350 kWh in an average two month billing period (22.1918 kWh per day), and $0.11(US) per kWh when over the threshold.
YES AND IN 20 more years fusion power or 40 or 60 or 80 current count
nuke are safe only killed on guy I knew he hot jumped too many times [with fake IDs]
the crocks are big down by the plant
we have in addition to the gaiters we have the only USA salt water crock's but the gaiters stay in the fresh waters fred is back at black point [a huge crock] by the boat ramp
I used to catch some nice big red fish at a coal powered plant's cooling lake in West Texas until the plant went down one winter and they all died from the cold water. They never re-stocked it and the plant closed for good about 5 years ago
