All Forum Posts by: Alvin Sylvain

Venezuela wasn't socialist either in 1950.

Don't think it can't happen here. Unless we stay vigilant, it most certainly can.

Not to detract from whatever your original point was -- I generally find your posts to be both thoughtful and thought-provoking. I don't always agree with everything, but who ever agrees with everything.

My only point was, and is, to quote a famous quotation, "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice."

Congressional Democrats want to take away our liberty, although they probably don't think of it in such, "extreme" terms. As the bill is currently written, it's not likely to pass. However it will be amended into something probably a little less horrible, but still bad, and will probably pass. Congress wants to use this crisis to look good to the voters. I'm sure Hugo Chavez felt the same.

Have you heard of Venezuela? It is part of our world and wracked by poverty in the extreme thanks to adopting socialist ideology in the extreme; including government take-over of large portions of the economy, "for the People" of course.

In 1950 Venezuela was the 4th wealthiest nation per capita in the world. Today, their biggest export is emigrants trying to escape. Central and South America is littered with Venezuelan ex-pats.

I know sometimes it's crazy to argue "extremes" but they do happen, and many of us would very much like to avoid quite a few of those extremes. Extremes are unlikely realities that we'd like to see stay as unlikely as we can make them, but unfortunately, not impossible.

 As it so happens, in most areas renters out-vote landlords by a significant margin.

I'm reminded of the parable of the three animals trapped in a cave, two wolves and one sheep, voting on what to have for dinner.

 ... and expect the worst.

This is an election year. Time to pander.

Everything is "it depends".

Like, my first question is, OK, there's a train track -- is there a train? No train, who cares.

Second: you say there's a commercial building in front of it -- is this a commercial area? Manufacturing plants and such don't particularly care about train noise.

Third: given that a railroad track has an adverse effect on the price -- how is the price of this property relative to that? I mean, if you're getting a $10K property for $9K, great! never-mind that 5 miles down the road a similar property is $15K. In the $15K area, you'd expect pay around $15K. The railroad tracks mean the price is around $10K (or whatever, made up numbers). What's important is, for whatever the price is, do the numbers work?

Finally, and also important: are you moving in? or what? If you're renting the place, work the numbers considering that you won't get the same rent as the $15K place down the road. If you're flipping the place, consider you need to pay $7K or less so you can flip it, fix it, and still make a profit. If you're moving in, what, are you crazy?

 Places with high real estate prices will level off. The fundamental reasons their prices are high in the first place remain solidly entrenched. Look for prices in the places where people are moving to (NV, TX, etc.) to increase.

I agree that collecting a fee for an applicant you already know doesn't qualify isn't fair. However, I can also see how it may be a legal requirement in some jurisdictions. Not accepting each and every application tendered, regardless of obvious qualification issues, carries the risk of being accused of illegal discrimination.

The person who applies to 20 different places possibly is not doing his own due diligence, and is unknowingly applying to places where he clearly doesn't qualify. There's no way I can know, but I've never as a renter needed to apply to more than three places, and never as a landlord been told by an applicant that I was his 21st attempt.

As it so happens, vetting an applicant is work, and somebody has to do it. That somebody is probably going to be none too happy about providing that service without some sort of payment.

If you have to provide certain "free" services in order to be competitive in your market, then so be it. That doesn't mean it's a "ripoff".

I agree with the folks who said the grey color is today's "in" color. Tomorrow, maybe we go back to Navajo White. Who knows.

About the only thing bad about it is that it allows you to immediately recognize a flip. Nobody except an investor paints anything gray, "agreeable" or not.

Anybody remember when all the kitchen appliances came in avocado? Then they started coming in white? Then black? I think now it's stainless steel. I haven't bought an appliance in a while so I can't say for sure. In a few years it'll be something else, and about the only thing interesting about it is that it allows you to play "archaeologist" and "scientifically" put a date on a photo based on the color of the appliances.

So I agree with everybody who said, don't bother spending the money unless it's really needed. If a few touch-ups is all it needs, then give it a few touch-ups. If it looks like a disaster that a fresh paint job will fix, then you can worry about what color to buy.

The kids have moved out and the wife takes the call, no problem. :-)