[AzCal Retred]

Would YOU haul 20 cans of spray paint up 30 floors worth of staircases? Why would you abandon a building and not have a rent-a-cop there? Seems like if you can build a luxury tower...then...?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68209951

Drone video shows graffiti covering luxury high-rise in LA

Twenty-seven floors of an unfinished luxury high-rise complex were painted with graffiti last week. The site, which has been abandoned since 2019, is located in downtown Los Angeles. Police say over a dozen people entered the building, but only two were apprehended.

[axman88]

Or, .....

Call it art and jack up the asking price of the units by $40k base and $120k for the ones adorned by works claimed by the two slow runners whose artistic pain and suffering got documented by the LAPD.

The real estate people will have lots of future fun, making cases for increased value based on "stylistic similarity" and "cultural significance".

[him a layin]

and yet somehow there's a housing shortage.

[gizzo]

and yet somehow there's a housing shortage.

Only for people with no money....

[Beeza]

Only for people with no money....

Comment gold award of the day.

House prices have tracked the price of oil for as long as I can remember. Back when it was a buck and a half a house was 15,000. At 75 dollars today……..

[Quest]

My Dad told be long ago that you pay about the same for your first house as you pay for your last car.

[him a layin]

My Dad told be long ago that you pay about the same for your first house as you pay for your last car.

and hope you don't end up living in the car... maybe that's why i like minivans so much?

[Richard230]

The homes in my neighborhood sold for $35K when built in 1971. Today they are going for $1.3 million and some sell within a week or two after being put on the market. I sure am glad that my home was paid off years ago. But I am stuck here as it is just too expensive to move if I want to stay in any area of California where you can still get fire insurance.   

[AzCal Retred]

You are talking +$6000 a month house payments. $72K a year plus utilities for a place to flop, plus car payments, gas, groceries, clothes, erc.. There must be hella high paying jobs locally, or you are just being gentrified. You could get a "Casa Grande" in Coeur d'Alene for $350K-$500K and put the rest in an income producing mutual fund and be free. As we live in the future, we have telephone, internet, hotels & air travel. Idaho has cheap Hydro and less overall stupidity. The kids can visit year around. Let some other idiot pay handsomely to squat in a densely populated Skinner Box, get free. There's nothing magic about living in California. You can have a 2-car garage and a backyard full of grapes anywhere. Not dealing with daily city BS is priceless. Once you get into Hydro country you see very few solar panels, there's no real need.

[GlennF]

COmparin Aussie house prices with US cities:

https://aus-finance.com.au/gazette/what-sydneys-median-house-prices-gets-you-in-the-us

[AzCal Retred]

1300 sq. ft. on 1 acre, $150K, basement. Clean it up, add a "Shed of Bodgery", get on with it. Elbow room is worth a lot.

https://www.homes.com/property/3977-w-upriver-dr-coeur-d-alene-id/r7lcrtw5mh577/

[Richard230]

I haven't figured out what is going on with the home that sold across the street from me three months ago. In September the residents moved out and a several guys and a woman spent a month removing all of the interior walls and appliances, filling up two large dumpsters in the process and installing new appliances and hardwood floors. Then the home was put of the market after being fully "staged" by the realtor. The pictures of the inside and fully landscaped yard photos were posted on the Zillow site and looked very impressive to me for homes in my area. The home was listed for 1.7 million.

A week later the home sold and I met the new homeowner the following week just to say hello. After that I never saw her again. The home stayed vacant for a month and then another group of people started removing walls, windows and all sorts of stuff from inside the home. This has gone on for the past three months, with several large dumpsters and a couple of debris trailers filled to overflowing and then removed. So far I haven't noticed any new stuff coming in and the windows have been papered over so that you can't see inside. Kind of makes me wonder if the home is being turned into a pot grow house or drug lab. 

But this is not the neighborhood to do that as there are many families with young children in the area who keep an eye on things and any weird stuff gets reported to the local cops who have little else to do other than investigate things like that so they can make the news and show that they are needed for something other than handing out speeding tickets. 

[him a layin]

everyone wants to get rich before full-on feudalism sets in. then they can lord it over the peons with impunity.

[Quest]

Yup the 1.7 fixer-upper.  It might be that it was bought as a flipper and being re-sold as a blank pallet.

I haven't figured out what is going on with the home that sold across the street from me three months ago. In September the residents moved out and a several guys and a woman spent a month removing all of the interior walls and appliances, filling up two large dumpsters in the process and installing new appliances and hardwood floors. Then the home was put of the market after being fully "staged" by the realtor. The pictures of the inside and fully landscaped yard photos were posted on the Zillow site and looked very impressive to me for homes in my area. The home was listed for 1.7 million.

A week later the home sold and I met the new homeowner the following week just to say hello. After that I never saw her again. The home stayed vacant for a month and then another group of people started removing walls, windows and all sorts of stuff from inside the home. This has gone on for the past three months, with several large dumpsters and a couple of debris trailers filled to overflowing and then removed. So far I haven't noticed any new stuff coming in and the windows have been papered over so that you can't see inside. Kind of makes me wonder if the home is being turned into a pot grow house or drug lab. 

But this is not the neighborhood to do that as there are many families with young children in the area who keep an eye on things and any weird stuff gets reported to the local cops who have little else to do other than investigate things like that so they can make the news and show that they are needed for something other than handing out speeding tickets. 

[AzCal Retred]

Years back in Arizona across from Needles, Ca., the local power cooperative reported a ranch house to the police when the monthly power bill went from $200 to $3000 then back to $200. The PD flew a helo over it and took an infrared picture which showed plumes of hot gas coming out of the chimney in August. A raid discovered a 1/2 acre underground greenhouse with a 100 KW diesel running the grow lights. It took a lot of under the table money to construct that greenhouse, and a lot of local contractors & supplies. Nobody knew anything, of course. A pricey neighborhood might be a better place to hide a lab, more cover/less scrutiny.

[Leofric]

You could get a "Casa Grande" in Coeur d'Alene for $350K-$500K and put the rest in an income producing mutual fund and be free.

Can you recommend a suitable mutual fund - my financial adviser and fund managers seem to make more out of my pension investments than me ?!

[Richard230]

Can you recommend a suitable mutual fund - my financial adviser and fund managers seem to make more out of my pension investments than me ?!

 

[AzCal Retred]

Bought with petty cash no doubt. It was impossible to predict that rainfall & erosion would continue apace. Looks like the "house" (or maybe new Walmart?) was built in a low drainage area, the vid shows a recessed area below the Casa Grande. The property must have been a bargain, just like the lowland area around the New Orleans French Quarter, the only high ground since 1720. Hopefully the insurance money from the lost collection of only slightly forged old master paintings will cover the inconvenience.

Landslide inches from luxury homes on California coast ; BBC Video

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68280564

Aeriel footage shows a landslide just inches from multiple luxury homes overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Dana Point, California. The incident occurred just days after heavy rain in Southern California led way to countless mudslides and landslides throughout the region.

https://www.insurance.ca.gov/0400-news/0100-press-releases/2023/release001-2023.cfm
LOS ANGELES — With powerful winter storms increasing the threat of mudslides, especially for people in wildfire burn areas who are even more vulnerable, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara issued a formal Notice to insurance companies reminding them of their legal duty to cover damage from any future mudslide or similar disaster that is caused by recent wildfires that weakened hillsides.
Many people may not be aware that homeowners’ and commercial insurance policies typically exclude flood, mudslide, debris flow, and other similar disasters — unless they are directly or indirectly caused by a recent wildfire or another peril covered by the applicable insurance policy. The Department of Insurance has posted a fact sheet for consumers to answer questions about what their policies cover.



https://www.fqmd.org/history-of-french-quarter/
The French Quarter is located on the banks of the Mississippi River where New Orleans was established by the French in 1718. The site was selected not only because the riverfront is relatively high amid low-lying swampland, but because of its proximity to Lake Pontchartrain which, via Bayou St. John, provided a safer shortcut than the Mississippi for shipping.

[GlennF]

You need something like the UK regulations governing living on the Isle of Mann where you need to apply for permission to permanently live there and only the Super Rich and the very very famous are ever granted permission.

[gizzo]

Cool, maybe those houses will slide into the ocean and make a fun new reef break that can benefit the wider community.

[Leofric]

You need something like the UK regulations governing living on the Isle of Mann where you need to apply for permission to permanently live there and only the Super Rich and the very very famous are ever granted permission.

Hadn't heard of that, but not sure how UK regulations apply to the Isle of Man, they have their own regulations - would need to look it up.

[Leofric]

Looked it up - 'The Isle of Man is not, and never has been, part of the United Kingdom, nor is it part of the European Union. It is not represented at Westminster or in Brussels. The Island is a self-governing British Crown Dependency - as are Jersey and Guernsey in the Channel Islands - with its own parliament, government and laws.'

[GlennF]

Similar to the Falkland Islands in other words.

[Adrian II]

Fewer sheep, more motorcycle racing though.

A.

[Leofric]

Similar to the Falkland Islands in other words.

Not sure about that. Don't know how this Crown Dependency thing works.No doubt it can be looked up.

[Leofric]

Fewer sheep, more motorcycle racing though.

A.

and not wanted by Argentina !

[GlennF]

Fewer sheep, more motorcycle racing though.

A.

Yeah sheep racing never really took on for some reason.

[Adrian II]

The thought of sheep doing a 130mph lap of the Mountain Circuit is intriguing, depending on what you've been smoking, I guess...

A.

[Beeza]

Maybe you could find it on Ewe Tube.

[AzCal Retred]

You hadda ask....  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juuHgzaeSZM

[Leofric]

You hadda ask....  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juuHgzaeSZM

There is an expression  used around here - 'that beats hen racing '. Is that just a Yorkshire saying ?

[AzCal Retred]

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness ; by Jonathan Haidt

https://www.amazon.com/Anxious-Generation-Rewiring-Childhood-Epidemic/dp/0593655036

"Jon Haidt is a brilliant NYU Stern social psychologist who is relentless in his scientific pursuit of the truth. The "Anxious Generation" is a must-read for every parent, educator, administrator and politician, because it documents the enormous and quantifiable "negative externalities" spawned by social media usage. The trends documented are especially deleterious for teenage girls. Haidt marshals evidence of depression, anxiety, self-harm and even suicide and concludes: "Social media use does not just correlate with mental illness; it causes it."

An apt analogy to smoking is drawn, given social media apps are - by design - addicting and marketed to minors. Modern societal norms don't allow pre-teens to buy tobacco, alcohol or enter casinos so why are we allowing them access to "digital fentanyl"? Unfortunately, in a world of "move fast and break things" techno-optimism, what has been broken is teenage mental health. Haidt correctly assesses that this is a collective action problem and offers four foundation recommendations:

1) More unsupervised play and childhood independence;
2) No smartphones before high school;
3) No social media before 16;
4) Phone free schools;

Regulatory frameworks and societal norms often lag Silicon Valley's bleeding-edge speed of development, but the damage being wrought here - and painstakingly documented by Haidt - is becoming visible enough that this book could catalyze real, positive and lasting change. Gift a copy to anyone with younger children or local educators - spread the word and help solve the collective action problem."

[Richard230]

That would be the end of civilization as we know it.....

[tooseevee]

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness ; by Jonathan Haidt

https://www.amazon.com/Anxious-Generation-Rewiring-Childhood-Epidemic/dp/0593655036

      Watched an interview with Haidt & discussion of his work & book on After Words (PBS) just a couple days ago. I've watched all this happen in detail & with great interest over the past 20 years (They all fall there so perfectly, It all seems so well timed). Three perfect examples of how this whole thing has effected kids from kindergarten on (peer pressure, indoctrination in schools, etc., etc., etc..), are my daughter & her twin daughters of 23 years. They are all 3 fucked up, each in a different way & I will say no more except that they were victims of society's (& public school's) pliers & everything Haidt talks about. 

       We were warned by many; Orwell, McLuhan, Tofler, Asimov, Hawking.

       Oh, mama, can this really be the end?......

[him a layin]

every new communication medium raises this issue as society learns to deal with it. painting on the cave wall, writing, formal religion, printing press, film, tv, internet... all convey culture, all increasingly available to the masses and increasingly influential. some of us might call it freedom, is it possible to be too free? we'll adapt. or we won't. so many questions...

[AzCal Retred]

The only possible upside here is generally people are smart enough (after awhile...) to look around and adopt behaviours that work and discard those that don't. Sadly you mostly can't fix "behavour related" issues for people. Even Prohibition died an ignoble death. However the offspring of the binge drinking 1890-1920 parents seem to notch it back a bit in their own lives.

[GlennF]

The interesting thing about Musk who champions free speech on twitter is he sues everyone that criticises him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XWV5S9Z_Ps

[him a layin]

The interesting thing about Musk who champions free speech on twitter is he sues everyone that criticises him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XWV5S9Z_Ps

that's not free speech, that's the privilege of wealth, to be able to hire an endless stream of lawyers to suppress others' free speech.

no love for muskrat lost here.