Spring Banter

[PhineasC]

3 minutes ago, DavisStraight said:

Wonder how that guy who's has a million in bitcoins waiting for 10 million before he sells makes out, greed could get the best of him, I'd sell at least half or more and let the rest ride.

It'll go down even faster than it went up.

I also don't get this idea that the big banks will use one of these existing blockchain implementations.

They will just develop their own blockchain implementation that they control, rendering these other coins nearly worthless overnight.

IMO, a better long-term investment is in the companies that will deploy blockchain technology for the large banks, not these silly coins.

[Brian5671]

I know the builders are sending ltrs to people in smaller capes and ranches around here-a few have taken them up on the offer to leave-the demo crew comes in  and a bigger house goes up...good point above on the lack of small/starter homes-no one builds those anymore.  

[BuffaloWeather]

1 minute ago, PhineasC said:

It'll go down even faster than it went up.

I also don't get this idea that the big banks will use one of these existing blockchain implementations.

They will just develop their own blockchain implementation that they control, rendering these other coins nearly worthless overnight.

IMO, a better long-term investment is in the companies that will deploy blockchain technology for the large banks, not these silly coins.

Like the company Ripple, who owns 40-50% of the crypto XRP? They are already working with banks to develop this.

https://ripple.com/xrp/

[PhineasC]

3 minutes ago, BuffaloWeather said:

I think 99% of most people don't completely understand crypto outside of those in the tech industry. It has future use in banking, healthcare, real estate, supply chain, etc...It isn't something useless. We are seeing NFL players take their paychecks in Bitcoin, that doesn't happen unless there is something real there.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/blockchain.asp

In terms of lottery and investing. Tesla has been overvalued for years. It's P/E ratio was trading at 1,000 times historic earnings which is insane. It didn't stop people from making a bunch of money off of it the last few years. My coworker works there and cashed out stock options to buy a house with it.

Blockchain technology itself has value, of course. That's not what everyone is investing in, however.

And NFL players very often make dumb decisions with their money. In the past, they used to invest in dodgy sports bars in Miami. Now they take their pay in Bitcoin.

[PhineasC]

1 minute ago, BuffaloWeather said:

Like the company Ripple, who owns 40-50% of the crypto XRP? They are already working with banks to develop this.

https://ripple.com/xrp/

If the company has a healthy pipeline and business plan, it might be a good investment.

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

5 minutes ago, BuffaloWeather said:

Like the company Ripple, who owns 40-50% of the crypto XRP? They are already working with banks to develop this.

https://ripple.com/xrp/

Do you know when XRP will be available to trade again?

[HIPPYVALLEY]

7 minutes ago, PhineasC said:

It'll go down even faster than it went up.

I also don't get this idea that the big banks will use one of these existing blockchain implementations.

They will just develop their own blockchain implementation that they control, rendering these other coins nearly worthless overnight.

IMO, a better long-term investment is in the companies that will deploy blockchain technology for the large banks, not these silly coins.

That is a very real possibility, however, certain Blockchain platforms such as Ethereum, Cardano, Dash, to name a few, Are already tested and functional so it would be cheaper for institutions to just roll with what somebody has already built for them.

[Whineminster]

8 minutes ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

Do you know when XRP will be available to trade again?

It's just not tradable on coinbase. 

[BuffaloWeather]

27 minutes ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

Do you know when XRP will be available to trade again?

You can buy other crypto on coinbase and send to atomic wallet and convert back to XRP on coinbase. But not currently tradable there. Its in the middle of the lawsuit with the SEC

[SJonesWX]

2 hours ago, powderfreak said:

It's been insane up here too.  Everything is going over asking price and most are selling in cash.  Not a single home or condo under half a million on the market right now in Stowe.

Honestly an article this week in the local paper reads very familiar to what Phin did... just buying stuff sight unseen and in big transactions to escape the city life.

Not going to lie, I'm not excited for a tax assessment in Stowe.  They are already talking about it and I know even where I am, our townhome is assessed almost $100K lower than what adjacent units have sold for.

 

 

a higher tax assessment does not necessarily mean higher taxes. Your town has a semi-fixed budget and taxes you a share of that budget. Simple math, really. Unless the budget goes up substantially, you won’t owe any more money. Yes your assessed value went up, but your tax rate goes down.

[powderfreak]

10 minutes ago, SJonesWX said:

a higher tax assessment does not necessarily mean higher taxes. Your town has a semi-fixed budget and taxes you a share of that budget. Simple math, really. Unless the budget goes up substantially, you won’t owe any more money. Yes your assessed value went up, but your tax rate goes down.

Ahh that makes sense.  I just always figure they’ll want more money.  They seem to buy fire trucks here like they are going out of style and it has to be the most well funded police departments for a small rural town on the planet lol.  But it’s also from tons of tourist tax.  Meals tax, rooms tax, etc.

[DavisStraight]

1 hour ago, Brian5671 said:

I know the builders are sending ltrs to people in smaller capes and ranches around here-a few have taken them up on the offer to leave-the demo crew comes in  and a bigger house goes up...good point above on the lack of small/starter homes-no one builds those anymore.  

I've talked to builders in my area about that, they don't make as much money, easier to put their time into a bigger house that takes a little longer to build and make double the money.

[Bostonseminole]

 

[Bostonseminole]

terrible day for India.. COVID is out of control there,  luckily still seems like the virus spares >98% of folks..

[tamarack]

1 hour ago, SJonesWX said:

a higher tax assessment does not necessarily mean higher taxes. Your town has a semi-fixed budget and taxes you a share of that budget. Simple math, really. Unless the budget goes up substantially, you won’t owe any more money. Yes your assessed value went up, but your tax rate goes down.

That's logical, but often when the town leaders see a 15% increase in town-wide assessment, they immediately plan to spend 15% more dollars.

[HoarfrostHubb]

25 minutes ago, DavisStraight said:

I've talked to builders in my area about that, they don't make as much money, easier to put their time into a bigger house that takes a little longer to build and make double the money.

I still think there is a market for smaller, more affordable starter homes, but right now, it makes more sense to be building the bigger ones for reasons you mentioned.

[mreaves]

54 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

Ahh that makes sense.  I just always figure they’ll want more money.  They seem to buy fire trucks here like they are going out of style and it has to be the most well funded police departments for a small rural town on the planet lol.  But it’s also from tons of tourist tax.  Meals tax, rooms tax, etc.

They are going through it in Burlington right now and my town is doing a reappraisal now as well.  As for the police and fire departments, because of the nature of most of the businesses in Stowe, I bet their activity is akin to a considerably larger town.  If you think about how the day to day population grows with the influx of skiers and other tourists, it looks like a bigger town than 4400 residents.

https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/burlingtons-property-reassessment-has-set-record-high-values-whats-the-cost-to-residents/Content?oid=32909386

[tamarack]

26 minutes ago, DavisStraight said:

I've talked to builders in my area about that, they don't make as much money, easier to put their time into a bigger house that takes a little longer to build and make double the money.

Same principle for pickups, or why Ford dropped the old Ranger and then replaced it with a new Ranger that's probably bigger than a 2000 model F-150.  Way bigger mark-ups.

[NorEastermass128]

1 minute ago, HoarfrostHubb said:

I still think there is a market for smaller, more affordable starter homes, but right now, it makes more sense to be building the bigger ones for reasons you mentioned.

Starter homes around here are being bought up at $500k, demolished, and then a $1M+ monstrosity replaces it.  Great time for FTHBs.

[Bostonseminole]

1 minute ago, NorEastermass128 said:

Starter homes around here are being bought up at $500k, demolished, and then a $1M+ monstrosity replaces it.  Great time for FTHBs.

same here.. house just went up for 1.5M a couple of doors down.. makes my ranch house look like a mini home

[NorEastermass128]

3 minutes ago, Bostonseminole said:

same here.. house just went up for 1.5M a couple of doors down.. makes my ranch house look like a mini home

Buy more dogecoin and then you'll be in the 1.5M home in no time!

[weathafella]

5 hours ago, DavisStraight said:

People  are offering 50k-100k over asking prices to bet a house  in my area, it's probably worse in and near Boston. That can't last

People have been meeting or exceeding those bids  for homes imby for over 5 years.   Heck, we made 100k the day we moved in and we’re up many times that now.  In the end, the biggest 3 things are location location location.

[powderfreak]

31 minutes ago, mreaves said:

They are going through it in Burlington right now and my town is doing a reappraisal now as well.  As for the police and fire departments, because of the nature of most of the businesses in Stowe, I bet their activity is akin to a considerably larger town.  If you think about how the day to day population grows with the influx of skiers and other tourists, it looks like a bigger town than 4400 residents.

https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/burlingtons-property-reassessment-has-set-record-high-values-whats-the-cost-to-residents/Content?oid=32909386

Ah very interesting.  Big increases in BTV but I guess I still don't understand some of the tax stuff.  Or maybe I do, ha... why would someone who saw their property assessment go up 40% see their taxes increase, but someone who say only sees a 30% increase would actually see their taxes go down?  Is it because it's the same sized pie (the budget) and they are just altering the proportions?  So if your home value rises but not quite as much as your neighbor's, you pay less and they pay more now assuming it was equal before?

"If the city budget is the same as the current one, people whose property values increased by more than 40 percent would pay higher taxes this coming fiscal year; those with smaller increases would pay less.... some high-profile names — including Mayor Miro Weinberger, whose Hill Section home went up just 29 percent — would likely see their taxes decrease."

Also interesting how they do commercial properties...I had no idea that commercial property was valued based on the amount of business it does.  I thought it was purely a real estate valuation, not a valuation based on how the business is doing.  So if your business was effected by COVID like BTV hotels (say the Hilton, Marriot, etc), your assessment is lower?

"On the opposite end of the spectrum, just 66 of the city's 10,400 properties lost value since they were last assessed. Many of those were commercial properties. The Burlington Country Club, for example, dropped nearly $1 million in assessed value. Hotels, too, saw marked decreases, losing a combined $13.3 million in valuation, largely due to travel restrictions and lost business during the coronavirus pandemic, according to City Assessor John Vickery.

[SJonesWX]

1 hour ago, tamarack said:

That's logical, but often when the town leaders see a 15% increase in town-wide assessment, they immediately plan to spend 15% more dollars.

you speak the truth. it's unreal how they justify it too.

[mreaves]

28 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

Ah very interesting.  Big increases in BTV but I guess I still don't understand some of the tax stuff.  Or maybe I do, ha... why would someone who saw their property assessment go up 40% see their taxes increase, but someone who say only sees a 30% increase would actually see their taxes go down?  Is it because it's the same sized pie (the budget) and they are just altering the proportions?  So if your home value rises but not quite as much as your neighbor's, you pay less and they pay more now assuming it was equal before?

"If the city budget is the same as the current one, people whose property values increased by more than 40 percent would pay higher taxes this coming fiscal year; those with smaller increases would pay less.... some high-profile names — including Mayor Miro Weinberger, whose Hill Section home went up just 29 percent — would likely see their taxes decrease."

Also interesting how they do commercial properties...I had no idea that commercial property was valued based on the amount of business it does.  I thought it was purely a real estate valuation, not a valuation based on how the business is doing.  So if your business was effected by COVID like BTV hotels (say the Hilton, Marriot, etc), your assessment is lower?

"On the opposite end of the spectrum, just 66 of the city's 10,400 properties lost value since they were last assessed. Many of those were commercial properties. The Burlington Country Club, for example, dropped nearly $1 million in assessed value. Hotels, too, saw marked decreases, losing a combined $13.3 million in valuation, largely due to travel restrictions and lost business during the coronavirus pandemic, according to City Assessor John Vickery.

The tax rate is based upon the value of all the property in a town and the amount of money that needs to be raised to cover the budget. In VT, that is called the Grand List.  So if there was $100 million in property value used to raise the budget of $1 million, the tax rate would be .01 on every dollar of assessed value.  If the value of property is raised to $150 million then the tax rate to raise $1 million is lower, closer to .0067.  So if your property value stayed the same, your taxes would go down.  If your property value goes up minimally (and since I suck at math, I don't know what that percentage would be), your overall tax remains close to the same.  If your property gains a large amount of value, it may go up.  It sounds like the BTV assessor has an idea of where the break is.  Of course the presumption is that the actual budget won't increase much year to year.  My simple scenario also doesn't take into account different categories of property such as commercial vs. residential.

[bch2014]

One under discussed issue in this thread on the price/availability of housing is the role that NIMBYs play in stifling development.

It is nearly impossible to develop a new neighborhood in the northeast these days... And God forbid you try to build new apartments... In the town I grew up in (Concord, MA), people get their panties in a wad if you try to build apartments or condos, claiming it will “alter the character of the town.” Of course, the same cranks bitching about development are the same ones who have BLM signs in their yard.

Here in NYC, a development was just approved in my Financial District/Seaport neighborhood after years of red tape... The objection: it was “architecturally inappropriate.” So one would think it was replacing a building that the Dutch had built... Nope, it was replacing a parking lot. 
 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/champ.gothamist.com/champ/gothamist/news/smaller-plan-250-water-street-south-street-seaport-approved-landmarks-commission

[powderfreak]

30 minutes ago, bch2014 said:

One under discussed issue in this thread on the price/availability of housing is the role that NIMBYs play in stifling development.

It is nearly impossible to develop a new neighborhood in the northeast these days... And God forbid you try to build new apartments... In the town I grew up in (Concord, MA), people get their panties in a wad if you try to build apartments or condos, claiming it will “alter the character of the town.” Of course, the same cranks bitching about development are the same ones who have BLM signs in their yard.

Here in NYC, a development was just approved in my Financial District/Seaport neighborhood after years of red tape... The objection: it was “architecturally inappropriate.” So one would think it was replacing a building that the Dutch had built... Nope, it was replacing a parking lot. 
 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/champ.gothamist.com/champ/gothamist/news/smaller-plan-250-water-street-south-street-seaport-approved-landmarks-commission

Ha yup, people hate anything happening near them. Wind turbines are always a hot topic up here.  People absolutely lose their shit if they might see one while driving anywhere in a given county... much less see one from their property.

This quote is funny, humans are funny creatures.

”Thousands of residents petitioned against the proposal, calling it out of scale and “architecturally inappropriate” for the historic district—some opponents even suggested the NYPD move its tow pound to the site instead.”

[mreaves]

23 minutes ago, bch2014 said:

One under discussed issue in this thread on the price/availability of housing is the role that NIMBYs play in stifling development.

It is nearly impossible to develop a new neighborhood in the northeast these days... And God forbid you try to build new apartments... In the town I grew up in (Concord, MA), people get their panties in a wad if you try to build apartments or condos, claiming it will “alter the character of the town.” Of course, the same cranks bitching about development are the same ones who have BLM signs in their yard.

Here in NYC, a development was just approved in my Financial District/Seaport neighborhood after years of red tape... The objection: it was “architecturally inappropriate.” So one would think it was replacing a building that the Dutch had built... Nope, it was replacing a parking lot. 
 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/champ.gothamist.com/champ/gothamist/news/smaller-plan-250-water-street-south-street-seaport-approved-landmarks-commission

Vermont has a stated goal of trying to develop what are called downtown cores but that's not even enough for some.  Recently a group in Montpelier fought against a new hotel and parking garage and the developers finally gave up.  The same thing has happened with new housing.  If you can't build in a city, where can you?  I'd much rather see these things in area that already is developed rather than tearing up a hayfield.

https://vtdigger.org/2021/04/05/montpelier-hotel-parking-garage-project-canceled-after-years-of-appeals-and-delays/

[HoarfrostHubb]

I wish people would build in my podunk town... maybe there would be a big enough tax base that they could fix the roads...   turns out that 80% of the land in my town is owned by the state (DCR and watershed) so a lot of building won't be happening.

 

I would also love a wind turbine in my backyard if I could plug into it...lol

[weathafella]

14 minutes ago, mreaves said:

Vermont has a stated goal of trying to develop what are called downtown cores but that's not even enough for some.  Recently a group in Montpelier fought against a new hotel and parking garage and the developers finally gave up.  The same thing has happened with new housing.  If you can't build in a city, where can you?  I'd much rather see these things in area that already is developed rather than tearing up a hayfield.

https://vtdigger.org/2021/04/05/montpelier-hotel-parking-garage-project-canceled-after-years-of-appeals-and-delays/

Maybe the bylaws themselves are an impediment to progress.   New England is unique that way.