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Thread: Real Estate Crash thread
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05-07-2021, 10:26 AM #13701Hucked to flat once
- Join Date
- Oct 2005
- Location
- Idaho
- Posts
- 10,953
Three of us. This was our year for new floors, interior paint, kitchen, and a garage with possible ADU. Saved up a good chunk of cash and took a HELOC out as a back up.
Have been working with the city on garage/ADU which is a whole other mess. Talking to friends who are contractors as well and referred contractors. Went from can start in the next few months to getting penciled in a year from now. Contracts were a set amount initially and have all moved to cost plus. Similar to you, neighbors are building a garage so we met with them and the builder to do both at the same time. We finally said no because of all the moving targets. Neighbors are all ahead full. Project hasn't broke ground and they are already pushed out six months and materials costs are 50% over initial. And apparently our P&Z dept doesn't like the new mayor and many have quit so permits are delayed. Permits are also delayed on my offices remodel with the demo already being complete.
We're riding the sidelines for the year. Maybe more.
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05-07-2021, 10:30 AM #13702
Good call man. I don't think we'll see 2xs under 3 bucks again but they won't be 11+ forever either.
What is it about planning and zoning that is is always a terrible place to work though? Every place I've ever been they can never hold staff.Live Free or Die
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05-07-2021, 10:39 AM #13703Registered User
- Join Date
- Apr 2007
- Location
- Almost Mountains
- Posts
- 1,883
On the first one, one of the guys I work with is an engineer with a growing family. He had plans in hand, contractors lined up, and pulled the plug on his expansion/reno project last fall as prices per foot got stupid.
The wife and I had seriously considered trying to either build on a lot we liked or turn an unheated portion of the house into a master suite, but just insulating the mudroom is proving enough of an asspain ("late August" to get a contractor in, and $93/sheet for 3/4" plywood) that we're now at "maybe in 2023" on the bigger ideas. I'm convinced everything is backed up enough this summer that next summer will still be catch up.
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05-07-2021, 10:39 AM #13704Registered User
- Join Date
- Dec 2010
- Posts
- 3,896
Its utterly thankless. Constantly being harassed by developers and their consultants to hurry up, or being pushed back on and argued with. Then they sometimes get undermined when someone goes above their head to council or the mayor to overrule a decision they made. In a lot of instances they deal with as much stress and workload as the private side, but without the pay, fringe benefits or "fun" of the private side.
One day when lose all ambition and kindof give up i will probably look at working for a City PW or planning dept.
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05-07-2021, 10:49 AM #13705______
- Join Date
- Aug 2020
- Posts
- 1,218
Sounds like I’m not the only one sitting on a pile of cash waiting for housing or construction markets to moderate. What’s the play for the next 6-18 months for that cash? (I think Rootskier asked this question awhile back as well.)
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05-07-2021, 10:54 AM #13706
There's a public trail that runs along the top of the ridge too, although it's not all that direct.
We considered moving down there a few years ago during a brief moment when the stars aligned financially, but ultimately decided that we aren't suburb people, i.e. driving everywhere, and none of your friends from in town want to visit you. We also didn't want to be house poor.
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05-07-2021, 10:58 AM #13707
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05-07-2021, 10:59 AM #13708
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05-07-2021, 11:00 AM #13709
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05-07-2021, 11:17 AM #13710
USA is an incredibly selfish, me first, country (see vaccination hold outs). When you work in planning and development, you are constantly having to tell people things that they don't want to hear. Planners crunch the numbers and tell us we need to build denser, less auto-centric neighborhoods. But people don't want to give up that parking spot. Building codes and rules are for safety, not just for the current inhabitant, but those down the road as well. But no one wants to be told what to do. My wife is a land use attorney for a county. You can never make everyone happy, and often times, you make no one happy.
I have a high school friend who was pretty left leaning, idealist type. He got a Master in Public Administration and started his career in a city planning department. Did that for a few years not making a whole lot of money and getting yelled at constantly. He quit and got a job with a CA land baron. His job now is convincing planning departments to allow his company to build strip malls on wet lands. He is now the wealthiest person I know on earth.
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05-07-2021, 11:21 AM #13711Hucked to flat once
- Join Date
- Oct 2005
- Location
- Idaho
- Posts
- 10,953
We dumped ours into equity with my company. Perfect timing for having cash on hand and an invite to buy in coming out of nowhere. Now we have to save up again but doesn’t seem to be a huge rush with building timelines. Also keeping heloc available in case the market shifts short term which doesn’t seem likely either.
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05-07-2021, 11:24 AM #13712
Plenty of jobs suck, with zero empathy, zero acknowledgement of your work, etc. though, so what is so unique about planning then?
I think it is kinda like how only certain people become cops. Planning attracts a type of person that relishes being that person to say no, but the tradeoff is the work culture is toxic as fuck. "We aren't happy, unless you aren't happy" -Glade in this very thread.Live Free or Die
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05-07-2021, 11:25 AM #13713Hucked to flat once
- Join Date
- Oct 2005
- Location
- Idaho
- Posts
- 10,953
Funny. We’re trying to increase density but are hitting roadblocks with PZ because here, the upstairs footage of an ADU counts against footprint ratios of the lot even though it doesn’t actually add to footprint footage. I was nice to the PZ guys while telling him I thought that was silly which he agreed. He then gave me pointers on requesting variance but it’s moot for the time being.
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05-07-2021, 11:26 AM #13714
Isn’t planning one of the whitest jobs? Like appraiser?
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05-07-2021, 11:31 AM #13715
Honestly, it's hard for me to come up with a more thankless profession. Public defender is up there (public hates you because you defend murderers, clients hate you because they are crazy and don't have to pay you, and you get paid shit relative to other attorneys). Planners aren't fast food workers. Some went to Harvard, Stanford, ect. It can be a very academic job (some have law degrees, MBAs, MPAs, and at a minimum a degree or masters in urban planning). And again, there is so much more money in the private sector so there is always the pull to jump ship.
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05-07-2021, 11:33 AM #13716
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05-07-2021, 11:35 AM #13717
Good points, alta, but there's a big difference between common sense code like you deal with in the electrical world (which save lives and constantly improve standards) AND people like Glade who will bust you for not obtain the proper permitting for replacing your toilet's wax ring. <---Not kidding. There's a thread somewhere about that. Hahaha.
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05-07-2021, 11:38 AM #13718
I've never met glade, but my feeling about what he's like on the job IRL is that he's either your best friend or worst enemy.
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05-07-2021, 11:50 AM #13719Live Free or Die
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05-07-2021, 12:04 PM #13720
It certainly is entitlement. People that work their ass off in school to get into good colleges and then go on to good grad schools do feel entitled to an enjoyable, rewarding career. When it doesn't work out that way, they get bitter.
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05-07-2021, 12:09 PM #13721
^Isn't this where people like you say "nO oNe OwEs YoU aNyThInG"?
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05-07-2021, 12:37 PM #13722
I always enjoy the posts of the whiny TGR cunts.
Not you Altasnob.
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05-07-2021, 12:53 PM #13723
^do you like your own posts on facebook too?
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05-07-2021, 12:57 PM #13724
As much as this can suck personally, this is the sign of an equitable and successful negotiation.
FWIW, I am in the natural resource extraction/wildland management sector and regularly sit at the table between granola munchers and cold-blooded capitalists, with a healthy side component of NIMBYism.
I prefer to recreate alone.
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05-07-2021, 01:36 PM #13725
It can end quickly. A couple of price reductions and some pent-up inventory:
The percentage of respondents who said it is a good time to buy a home decreased from 53% to 47%, while the percentage who said it is a bad time to buy increased from 40% to 48%.
Respondents to the survey largely cited high prices and tight supply as the chief reasons for their pessimism, according to Doug Duncan, senior vice president and chief economist at Fannie Mae.
“The decrease in homebuying sentiment likely indicates that some consumers, potentially flush with savings – perhaps boosted in part by stimulus payments – may be attempting, but failing, to buy a home due to heightened competition for relatively few listed homes,” Duncan said.
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