I live in a rural subdivision of starter homes about an hour west of Atlanta. These are typical 3/2 houses with a 2-car garage from 1400-1800 sf. Two years ago houses were selling in the 130-160k range; as of today the average list price is 301k. Crazy. This is a great idea in theory, but it never works in practice. Is there anything that we as a society have tried to make affordable that didn't get completely fucked up in the process? Converting malls into living spaces would either result in the dwellings becoming super expensive because of the location or crime-infested slums because of the affordability.
Around us all the old malls and theaters have been converted into arcades, indoor go kart tracks, and those trampoline parks. i have zero issues when my boys want to go to one
The answers are pretty well known: identify the areas that are best suited to denser building, particularly those around transit, and relax the zoning the requirements so that the market can build supply to address the pent up demand. I saw a tweet earlier today where a DC-area Burger King and parking lot was replaced with a mixed-use building with 300+ apartments and floor-level retail. It's such an astonishingly more efficient use of land.
Pods! It’s shelter! https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/Bay-Area-bunk-bed-pods-for-800-a-month-17162659.php
Not to live in, but I've always wondered why they don't have something like that near the highway instead of a motel. I don't need a whole room with two beds, just give me a pod so I can sleep for eight hours and then keep driving.
While we're on the topic of the absurd entitlement of NIMBYs: https://www.nbc12.com/2022/05/11/proposed-fall-line-trail-sparking-safety-concerns/ I wonder if these people are aware that there's already a road abutting their front yard, and one wide enough for wholeass getaway car to boot.
“ What if my child gets kidnapped?” As if you’re not responsible for what your young child is doing at any and all times. That’s a piss-poor excuse.
I just want to see them play that scenario out all the way. Describe for me the logistics of stuffing an 8 year old in the basket of a bicycle and riding off with them down a busy bike path. Explain to me getting them back to the rape dungeon on America's piss poor bike infrastructure. Show me how you'll avoid capture while waiting 90 seconds for a pedestrian crossing signal at each six lane road between you and your destination.
Just say what it is; you want to keep your privacy. Guess it isn't as clickable as "Our children are going to get kidnapped" Does anyone else closely monitor their credit scores? Have you seen it change more than normal lately? We're prepping to redo the guest bath and I bought about $3k in materials and my credit score dropped 40 points. I don't carry a balance so it'll be interesting if it bounces back up next month. I remember the last recession that my score would drop a little based on balance to limit ratio's and every few months they'd lower my limit. Could be coincidence, could be the credit card companies starting to see late payments or rising balances?
They use the kidnapping line because then the local news can run a story about "safety concerns" with the new trail. If they stuck with "we don't want the public to be able to use public land" the response would be "fuck off."
Yup, this is usually the cause. Your credit utilization can hit big percentages if, like most people, you don't need much credit and put something big on your card. I have several cards and all of them have some kind of small, automatically-paid recurring charge on them. I certainly don't need all of the credit, but it means that no matter what, my utilization percentage stays low. Also keeps up the average age of your accounts to not close out cards, which is another factor in your score.
That could be it. The only thing I use the card for is my Starbucks auto-reload and larger travel costs. Ultimately, it doesn't matter as I haven't financed anything in years but find it funny that when I could have used credit, I always had a mediocre score. Now that I don't need it, I have a great credit score. It's almost like being single and having the worst dry streak and then getting into a committed relationship and pootang is thrown at you from all angles.
I check mine regularly. I managed to raise it up from about 600 when I got out of prison (my brother stole my checks and credit cards when I was away) to the 700s; it bounces back and forth between 715-750 every other month as I use and pay off my credit card. What I really hate about the whole credit score system is how it seems so stacked against you. "What's that? You don't have any accounts open? That's points off of your score!" "You just opened up a new account? That's points off of your score!" "You managed to pay off an account and you closed it? Points off of your score!" "You have a credit card, and you're actually USING IT? Points off your score!" "You want to open a large account (house, car, etc.), and you NEED to have your score checked? POINTS OFF YOUR FUCKING SCORE, BITCH!" Seriously, WHY does CHECKING your credit take points off? How is that NOT bullshit?
Having a credit score consistently over 800 is the only thing that makes me feel like an adult some days.