Spring Banter

[ORH_wxman]

13 hours ago, DavisStraight said:

Always done, funny talking to realtors and other people in the business think it's not going to, it's just going to level off, I've been doing this almost 40 years, it goes up, it comes down, always happens. The higher it goes that further it falls, seen it too many times. Maybe this time I can actually make some real money if I play it right.

This one (housing cycle) will be interesting to follow....the supply isn't nearly as goosed as it was in the mid-2000s. There is a dearth of supply and last year made it even worse when many spots paused building for a month or two during the peak in the spring. Lack of supply makes me think there is probably a real floor to how far this can fall. Obviously if you get a bad enough economic recession, then who knows where the bottom might be....but just a typical real estate swoon probably won't have this fall like 2007-2008.

This is particularly true for like those starter/middle class units where supply is crunched the worst. I do think there's probably going to be some steep corrections in the upper end housing. It's already been showing up in the really high end stuff (like multi-million dollar units) since like 2019.

[BrianW]

22 minutes ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

We’re thinking about doing a huge reno because of the rates and how much above water we are. Plus my son will be out of daycare come Sept yea buddy. $1200/mo back in the pocket. But, the constuctions costs have skyrocketed so it practically washes out the advantages. Crazy times indeed.

There has been an insane recent surge of people wanting renovations and work done on their houses in CT. My contractor friends are saying a massive amount of people have been terrified to have anyone at their house doing work and now that their vaccinated the phone is ringing nonstop. Also, get ready to pay like double pre covid prices. Material costs are through the roof and there is a huge labor shortage of licensed electricians, plumbers etc. 

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

18 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

He's Italian, cut him some slack.   

Lol that’s true. He can only move two blocks away. 

[Brian5671]

29 minutes ago, MJO812 said:

I have my family out here. I'm staying here but man it is expensive to live here.

move to Watertown NY-tons of snow, the houses are not worth much....tell momma to take an Uber up to visit every month

[BuffaloWeather]

1 hour ago, PhineasC said:

"Waah, waah, America is racist and a terrible country, but I want to buy a $175k starter home in an established neighborhood of white upper-middle class professionals with zero crime and good schools. Why won't anyone build me one? Waaahh."

We have that in Buffalo, along with 100-150" of snow per year. 

[Brian5671]

pros and cons to everything-this part of CT is very expensive but we get good schools and real estate holds value due to lack of buildable land.  Once my kids are grown we'll have to look at some other options.   Doesnt make sense to pay high taxes once schools arent a factor

[rclab]

7 hours ago, MJO812 said:

My mom lives with me right now and will be forever.  

 

6 hours ago, CoastalWx said:

He's Italian, cut him some slack.   

Good morning all. I grew up only knowing family. A riotous, raucous, yelling screaming, laughing, crying, but always there for each other experience. The oldest, Matriarch or Patriarch were cared for by a child, generally female, that took over, giving up any desire for domestic partnership to stay and care for the aging parents. The rest of the children and then grandchildren stayed close to help and enjoy the last years. Yes Phineas staying close to Moma was important to us. But staying close to each other was of the utmost importance. Death was an offense to us and as a family taking turns to give our Mama and  Papas care-giver a rest was more a blessing than a chore. When my 96 year old grandmother was near death my father and his five brothers took turns staying at her bedside, each night so my aunt could rest. An in law aunt, who was a nurse, was staying every night but needed physical assistance. My aunt asked if we male grandchildren could do it to give our fathers a rest. I, being the oldest volunteered to be first, my grandmother passed away in my arms several hours later. I remembered that when I was holding my wife 40 years later as she passed from this life. So yes CoastalWx, we should cut Anthony sone slack but perhaps we should also admire him for keeping his mother close and protected, balancing family and career and most of all, living up to the expectations of a great man that sired him and would be so proud if he were only here. Have a day of peace , everyone. As always ...

[ORH_wxman]

10 minutes ago, Brian5671 said:

pros and cons to everything-this part of CT is very expensive but we get good schools and real estate holds value due to lack of buildable land.  Once my kids are grown we'll have to look at some other options.   Doesnt make sense to pay high taxes once schools arent a factor

Public school quality is a defacto proxy for housing prices in suburban areas. If you want top schools, you pay top dollar.

[tamarack]

2 hours ago, PhineasC said:

LOL

Tell us how you really feel about Baltimore.

Having grown up with that humidity, I can't help but laugh at the New England crew when they complain about a "day of high dews" with something like 80 degrees and 75% humidity. That's like a beautiful dry summer day in Baltimore.

I also laugh at the crew that begs for "oppressive heat and humidity" in New England. I am pretty sure they have no idea what that really means.

Can recall 86° with 85% rh at 11 PM when I was at early-season football practice at JHU.  Mornings weren't much better - made one really eager to put on the pads.   

Baltimore-area locals liked "Armpit of the East" as their city's title - covered both climate and the geography of Chesapeake Bay.  To be fair, Baltimore is also the farthest south I've lived, and its climate is a lot different than at a mostly forested community in the hills of NNJ.  We rarely saw 70+ minima where I grew up.  

[Typhoon Tip]

3 hours ago, QCD17 said:

The housing market is stupid crazy right now.  I feel bad any buyer that is overpaying now and is going to be forced into selling in 5 years when everyone realizes how much people overpayed.  My in-laws bought a house on the cape in 2014 for around $320K and just sold for $500k cash.  They've done ZERO work to the house and I would argue it's in worse condition now than when they bought it.  They had bought a condo in Florida so they have a place to stay.  The house isn't worth $400k, in my opinion, and I'm guessing the market is going to correct at some point.  I have plenty of friends that bought at the peak before the 2008 market crashed that had to write checks to get out of their houses when they needed to move/upgrade years later.  I have to think this is going to happen again.

I have an opportunity to sell, get out of this mortgage. Even clear enough profit to reduce my lingering bloated school loans, if not to zero squarely in 'who cares' range.

I just don't have anywhere to go and no reason to go there... 

I bought this small house for metaphoric nickels 10 years back ( relative to what houses typically cost in this economic neck of the woods/Massachusetts west of Boston). Here in the future, the market has up and appreciated like 150% ... I mean, 300 buck homes are now 450-ish here - and new ones built in the last 2 years? -wow

I get cold calls and text from - presumably home flippers...- that want to do precisely that: purchase the place outright, no questions asked, for cash.  The plot of land is actually modestly outsized for the size of the house. It probably is an attract lot to raise this beyotch and refoot and build anew, then... duplex the f'er and charge 1800/mo to keep a young starter family's echelon suppressed by taking too much of their wealth to save while they survive.  Lol... Gotta love the gaping maw of rental economics - dumb.

Because I paid light for this place... fairly confident I could double what I paid into the place, and get a chunk of financial soul back.   But again...not sure any of it matters...

I'm having all kinds of existential shit going on at mid age... questioning the philosophy of existence type crap. Like, so what?  - we all do. But I'm not depressed in that tripe sense. It's the math of it all: in 40 years we're all dead and none of this matters ...

Finality is absolute, and the absence of absence is the ultimate equalizer.  Humanity, Earth, ...the sun and stars seem infinite, but are too finite... and the individuals that make up the other end of that list?  We do not even register on the same scale as the other.  But we flint as fire-flies, extinguished by the inevitability of the night...  

Be that as it may, gee, for some reason...  sitting upon a precipice gazing out at an auburn sunset sky, with one's soul mate at one's side just seems utterly infinite in true wealth to me ...

 

[DavisStraight]

14 minutes ago, Typhoon Tip said:

I have an opportunity to sell, get out of the mortgage, ...and clear enough profit to reduce my lingering bloated school loans to zero... I just don't have anywhere to go and no reason to go there... 

That's the problem most people have, if you knew someone that an appt for rent for a reasaonable price you could do that, maybe rebuy when things cool off.

[weathafella]

The day we sell is the day we either come into a windfall well above now or the day we leave the region.   The biggest “problem “ is we really like this home and environment around it.

[DavisStraight]

5 minutes ago, weathafella said:

The day we sell is the day we either come into a windfall well above now or the day we leave the region.   The biggest “problem “ is we really like this home and environment around it.

Me too, I only have an acre but I'm surrounded by a few hundred acres of woods with a just a handful of neighbors that you can only see their houses in the winter. My dog has plenty of room to play and I have a small mortgage, new roof and all interior recently updated, I'm content to watch the craziness from the sidelines. If things do crash, that's an if I have a plan to take advantage of it this time, hopefully there's no crash but I'm ready just in case.

[Brian5671]

53 minutes ago, Typhoon Tip said:

I have an opportunity to sell, get out of this mortgage. Even clear enough profit to reduce my lingering bloated school loans, if not to zero squarely in 'who cares' range.

I just don't have anywhere to go and no reason to go there... 

I bought this small house for metaphoric nickels 10 years back ( relative to what houses typically cost in this economic neck of the woods/Massachusetts west of Boston). Here in the future, the market has up and appreciated like 150% ... I mean, 300 buck homes are now 450-ish here - and new ones built in the last 2 years? -wow

I get cold calls and text from - presumably home flippers...- that want to do precisely that: purchase the place outright, no questions asked, for cash.  The plot of land is actually modestly outsized for the size of the house. It probably is an attract lot to raise this beyotch and refoot and build anew, then... duplex the f'er and charge 1800/mo to keep a young starter family's echelon suppressed by taking too much of their wealth to save while they survive.  Lol... Gotta love the gaping maw of rental economics - dumb.

Because I paid light for this place... fairly confident I could double what I paid into the place, and get a chunk of financial soul back.   But again...not sure any of it matters...

I'm having all kinds of existential shit going on at mid age... questioning the philosophy of existence type crap. Like, so what?  - we all do. But I'm not depressed in that tripe sense. It's the math of it all: in 40 years we're all dead and none of this matters ...

Finality is absolute, and the absence of absence is the ultimate equalizer.  Humanity, Earth, ...the sun and stars seem infinite, but are too finite... and the individuals that make up the other end of that list?  We do not even register on the same scale as the other.  But we flint as fire-flies, extinguished by the inevitability of the night...  

Be that as it may, gee, for some reason...  sitting upon a precipice gazing out at an auburn sunset sky, with one's soul mate at one's side just seems utterly infinite in true wealth to me ...

 

Deep thoughts there-but mostly agree

[Typhoon Tip]

9 minutes ago, Brian5671 said:

Deep thoughts there-but mostly agree

Lol, ... yeah my bad.  Too much baggage; didn't read   - call it 'tmb;dr'

The gist is 'what's the use'?    Just offering some personal shit as to why I figure for it having no meaning and in fact .. no use.  You know, no one is taking this money with them - you're pathetic spending any life-energy at all amassing meaninglessness.  

Fascinating really -   hahaha.. .  some truth to that, though

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

1 hour ago, Typhoon Tip said:

I have an opportunity to sell, get out of this mortgage. Even clear enough profit to reduce my lingering bloated school loans, if not to zero squarely in 'who cares' range.

I just don't have anywhere to go and no reason to go there... 

I bought this small house for metaphoric nickels 10 years back ( relative to what houses typically cost in this economic neck of the woods/Massachusetts west of Boston). Here in the future, the market has up and appreciated like 150% ... I mean, 300 buck homes are now 450-ish here - and new ones built in the last 2 years? -wow

I get cold calls and text from - presumably home flippers...- that want to do precisely that: purchase the place outright, no questions asked, for cash.  The plot of land is actually modestly outsized for the size of the house. It probably is an attract lot to raise this beyotch and refoot and build anew, then... duplex the f'er and charge 1800/mo to keep a young starter family's echelon suppressed by taking too much of their wealth to save while they survive.  Lol... Gotta love the gaping maw of rental economics - dumb.

Because I paid light for this place... fairly confident I could double what I paid into the place, and get a chunk of financial soul back.   But again...not sure any of it matters...

I'm having all kinds of existential shit going on at mid age... questioning the philosophy of existence type crap. Like, so what?  - we all do. But I'm not depressed in that tripe sense. It's the math of it all: in 40 years we're all dead and none of this matters ...

Finality is absolute, and the absence of absence is the ultimate equalizer.  Humanity, Earth, ...the sun and stars seem infinite, but are too finite... and the individuals that make up the other end of that list?  We do not even register on the same scale as the other.  But we flint as fire-flies, extinguished by the inevitability of the night...  

Be that as it may, gee, for some reason...  sitting upon a precipice gazing out at an auburn sunset sky, with one's soul mate at one's side just seems utterly infinite in true wealth to me ...

 

Hold on...let swallow a gummie first.

[Ginx snewx]

2 hours ago, rclab said:

 

Good morning all. I grew up only knowing family. A riotous, raucous, yelling screaming, laughing, crying, but always there for each other experience. The oldest, Matriarch or Patriarch were cared for by a child, generally female, that took over, giving up any desire for domestic partnership to stay and care for the aging parents. The rest of the children and then grandchildren stayed close to help and enjoy the last years. Yes Phineas staying close to Moma was important to us. But staying close to each other was of the utmost importance. Death was an offense to us and as a family taking turns to give our Mama and  Papas care-giver a rest was more a blessing than a chore. When my 96 year old grandmother was near death my father and his five brothers took turns staying at her bedside, each night so my aunt could rest. An in law aunt, who was a nurse, was staying every night but needed physical assistance. My aunt asked if we male grandchildren could do it to give our fathers a rest. I, being the oldest volunteered to be first, my grandmother passed away in my arms several hours later. I remembered that when I was holding my wife 40 years later as she passed from this life. So yes CoastalWx, we should cut Anthony sone slack but perhaps we should also admire my him for keeping his mother close and protected, balancing family and career and most of all, living up to the expectations of a great man that sired him and would be so proud if he were only here. Have a day of peace , everyone. As always ...

Damn straight! Family is number 1

[powderfreak]

11 minutes ago, Typhoon Tip said:

Lol, ... yeah my bad.  Too much baggage; didn't read   - call it 'tmb;dr'

The gist is 'what's the use'?    Just offering some personal shit as to why I figure for it having no meaning and in fact .. no use.  You know, no one is taking this money with them - you're pathetic spending any life-energy at all amassing meaninglessness.  

Fascinating really -   hahaha.. .  some truth to that, though

That’s the age old question... what’s the use if you can’t take it with you?  Leave it to your children.  Without children though....

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

15 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

That’s the age old question... what’s the use if you can’t take it with you?  Leave it to your children.  Without children though....

Generational wealth opens up avenues. It doesn’t guarantee/offer anything besides that though. Happiness, intelligence, etc...

[DavisStraight]

32 minutes ago, Ginx snewx said:

Damn straight! Family is number 1

That's way we did with my Mother and Father, three of us rotated so there was always someone with them, they stayed with my brother down the road from me so I was there everyday til the end.

[Typhoon Tip]

Yeah ha right. It's like the only thing 'leave it to your children' achieves is not having to face the question now - it won't circumstantially be different for them ... ( even if they think it does ). It's kind of like that delicious up-chuck mantra of, "by the time winters are gone because of CC we'll be dead anway, so it doesn't matter"

I guess what we are 'douching' around are questions of ethics and virtues ?  

Money should never be bequeathed if you ask me ...  That's a form and function of a "Capital Darwinism" model  - the strongest wallet gets to survive? 

One needn't think too hard to see all kinds of problems with that, from an evolutionary biological problem and dimming gene pools, to just an outright issue of f'n fairness.  But... it's here to stay.

Besides, ...I have known trust fund kids. They now carry on with oddities and idiosyncratic personality by middle age. They tediously hide a painfully obvious self-centered bias that is almost more welcoming if they just admit reality is all about them - ugh.

My theory is that most people come out of adolescence a little weird.  Yeah, I know, I know - up for a Nobel prize in socio-dynamics for advancing that 'novel' statement. Point is, they still need polishing in order to become "admirable adults" - adults in super sense of it ... you get what I mean.

Trust funds ... or even just mollycoddling in a lot of ways, blocks that polishing, or in amounts ... detrimentally interferes. Even in partial.. the adult thinks their success is or should be universal, so there's something wrong with anyone not at least in their station.. it's a whole other babble.

I mean the normal gestation of life, we all have to face and develop self-reliance and resilience to endure times of sorrow and intrigue ( to put it nicely..).    We have to.. to get through it, and in doing so, teaches us to recognize and ultimately value others for having suffered indignity and "owning it", not having any choice, or we don't eat and pay bills. We get 'healthy humility' back from that journey.

Trust funders turtle inside veritable affluence bubbles whenever aspects get 'normally' weird.  They don't have to 'cooperate' and compromise, thus ..don't have to smell as much of their own life B.O. ... Seems romantic on paper to say that my kids should never have to face the shit that I did, and that's true to a point - but in access... the erosion of virtue kicks in. 

I'm just generalizing here but more of these adults, I have known, have more value and boundary issues with/about others.

 

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

3 minutes ago, Typhoon Tip said:

Yeah ha right. It's like the only thing 'leave it to your children' achieves is not having to face the question now - it won't circumstantially be different for them ... ( even if they think it does ). It's kind of like that delicious up-chuck mantra of, "by the time winters are gone because of CC we'll be dead anway, so it doesn't matter"

I guess what we are 'douching' around are questions of ethics and virtues ?  

Money should never be bequeathed if you ask me ...  That's a form and function of a "Capital Darwinism" model  - the strongest wallet gets to survive? 

One needn't think too hard to see all kinds of problems with that, from an evolutionary biological problem and dimming gene pools, to just an outright issue of f'n fairness.  But... it's here to stay.

Besides, ...I have known trust fund kids. They now carry on with oddities and idiosyncratic personality by middle age. They tediously hide a painfully obvious self-centered bias that is almost more welcoming if they just admit reality is all about them - ugh.

My theory is that most people come out of adolescence a little weird.  Yeah, I know, I know - up for a Nobel prize in socio-dynamics for advancing that 'novel' statement. Point is, they still need polishing in order to become "admirable adults" - adults in super sense of it ... you get what I mean.

Trust funds ... or even just mollycoddling in a lot of way, blocks that polishing, or in amounts ... detrimentally interferes. 

I mean the normal gestation of life, we all have to face and develop self-reliance and resilience at time of sorrow and intrigue ( to put it nicely..).    We have to.. to get through it, and in doing so, teaches us to recognize and ultimately value others for having suffered indignity and "owning it", not having any choice, too.

Trust funders turtle inside veritable affluence bubbles whenever aspects get 'normally' weird.  They don't have to 'cooperate' and compromise, thus have to smell as much of their own life B.O. ... Seems romantic on paper to say that my kids should never have to face the shit that I did, and that's true to a point - but in access... the erosion of virtue kicks in. 

I'm just generalizing here but more of these adults, I have known, have more value and boundary issues with/about others.

 

Sure that happens but you’re generalizing a tad and too focused on the psychoanalysis of multi million dollar trust fund babies. For us...If we can leave our kids and grandkids with enough of a nestegg where they have opportunities to do whatever they want in life, without having to bury themselves in debt, that’s a success for us. My parents did enough for themselves as Polish immigrants to retire comfortably. Unfortunately my dad passed away before he could enjoy his retirement so my mom benefits from it now. However, she isn’t passing much down. And it’s not just money but assets. Real estate, land plots, etc. We are trying to change that. 

[SJonesWX]

2 hours ago, powderfreak said:

That’s the age old question... what’s the use if you can’t take it with you?  Leave it to your children.  Without children though....

in a lot of cases, people amass a semblance of wealth saving up for retirement. and once retired, you have to spend carefully since you don't know how many years you will be alive to draw on those funds. it seems like in a lot of cases, retirees kick the bucket just a couple years after retirement, leaving their nest egg to their heirs. shit happens.

and to Tips point saying that money should never be bequeathed? that's pure hogwash. where else should my money go when I die? where is your money going when you die?

[Typhoon Tip]

14 minutes ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

Sure that happens but you’re generalizing a tad and too focused on the psychoanalysis of multi million dollar trust fund babies. For us...If we can leave our kids and grandkids with enough of a nestegg where they have opportunities to do whatever they want in life, without having to bury themselves in debt, that’s a success for us. My parents did enough for themselves as Polish immigrants to retire comfortably. Unfortunately my dad passed away before he could enjoy his retirement so my mom benefits from it now. However, she isn’t passing much down. And it’s not just money but assets. Real estate, land plots, etc. We are trying to change that. 

Generalizing ... yes...

Too focused ?   no - I'm being overly snarky and cynical for drollness lol ... I have known trust fund kids that ended up weird as middle age people though - that part I'm quite serious about.

For what it is worth, I did say "..Seems romantic on paper to say that my kids should never have to face the shit that I did, and that's true to a point - but in access... the erosion of virtue kicks in.  " more concisely, helping a kid is okay - giving unfair advantage gets dicey in a hurry.

Fwiw, I agree about the dept stuff -

I also have a kind of a [ probably unrealistic .. I know ] fantasy that education should be free right the f straight up and through and including PHD accreditation.  You know .. have  "merit" milestones/ check-points along the way to validate still going ... I mean we don't want people hiding in academia while and never actually getting their goal. 

[PhineasC]

I have seen many cases where families tore themselves apart over what amounted to not much money being passed down. It has to be handled carefully, or it can cause massive issues and destroy relationships permanently.

Our plan is to try to time things so most of our money is dolled out to our kids before we die, so we have control over how it is spent and we can be alive to watch them enjoy it.

[QCD17]

13 minutes ago, SJonesWX said:

in a lot of cases, people amass a semblance of wealth saving up for retirement. and once retired, you have to spend carefully since you don't know how many years you will be alive to draw on those funds. it seems like in a lot of cases, retirees kick the bucket just a couple years after retirement, leaving their nest egg to their heirs. shit happens.

and your other point saying that money should never be bequeathed? that's pure hogwash. where else should my money go when I die? where is your money going when you die?

That's exactly it.  I"m not looking to die with a huge bank account that I can pass on to our kids, but I'm hoping to be able to "retire" before I die.  And by retire I mean taking up a small job or paying hobby that I enjoy and that gives me spending money but also allows me more than an ample amount of time to enjoy life every day.  The flip side is that I don't want to live forever either, and end up being a burden to my kids.

[CoastalWx]

6 minutes ago, PhineasC said:

I have seen many cases where families tore themselves apart over what amounted to not much money being passed down. It has to be handled carefully, or it can cause massive issues and destroy relationships permanently.

Our plan is to try to time things so most of our money is dolled out to our kids before we die, so we have control over how it is spent and we can be alive to watch them enjoy it.

Donate some to AmericanWx for server upgrades and unlimited custom emojis.

[NorEastermass128]

At my last job, one of my co-workers, a widower, within 6-8 years of retirement with about a $1M nest egg was talking about this subject.  He said he was giving his son his inheritance now with college paid for, creature comforts, a place to live, etc., etc., basically setting his son up for success.   Once retired, he was going to enjoy HIS nest egg.   

Unfortunately, he passed last spring due to COVID complications in his late 50s.  I sure hope he planned ahead just in case...  $1M+, life insurance, real estate etc., can be a blessing or curse to a 20 year old.  

[backedgeapproaching]

7 minutes ago, PhineasC said:

I have seen many cases where families tore themselves apart over what amounted to not much money being passed down. It has to be handled carefully, or it can cause massive issues and destroy relationships permanently.

Our plan is to try to time things so most of our money is dolled out to our kids before we die, so we have control over how it is spent and we can be alive to watch them enjoy it.

So true, happened on my Mom and Dad's side both when my last grandparent passed away.  Kind of like you mentioned, we're not talking about life changing money either, but some relationships were irrevocably altered.  Some of the shadiness from close family members was kind of shocking.  Happened on my wife's Dad side also, sad.

[PhineasC]

5 minutes ago, backedgeapproaching said:

So true, happened on my Mom and Dad's side both when my last grandparent passed away.  Kind of like you mentioned, we're not talking about life changing money either, but some relationships were irrevocably altered.  Some of the shadiness from close family members was kind of shocking.  Happened on my wife's Dad side also, sad.

Yes, I have seen double-dealing occurring at the funeral with grandma literally 20 feet away in her casket. Over like $20k and some cheap jewelry.