Real Estate Crash thread

[simple]

Another water engineer here. I think we out number the lawyers now.

[Toadman]

Ooh, can't wait to see what the Enron of water looks like.

No kidding. The PE firms and hedge funds, big banks will go out and buy up all the water sources, and screw the US Citizen into thirst and then drain our life savings just for a glass of polluted/contaminated water.

[Toadman]

Another water engineer here. I think we out number the lawyers now.

Aren't you guys called hydrologists? Or is that something completely different? Pretty soon all you water engineers are going to be all washed up.

[simple]

Lol check out the bullshit Nestle pulls across the world

[Mazderati]

that’s more aimed at preventing another Mulholland St Francis dam disaster, not preventing another Mulholland buying into the colonization of a desert. The ethics of the latter can be trickier than the former.

Practically, that is probably more right than wrong but there are tangible examples of weighty ethics considerations as they relate to engineering on the front end. Several bio eng organizations have taken active stances against participation in work related to the death penalty, for example. Idealistically, there would be more.

https://www.bu.edu/eng/files/2016/09...gineers....pdf

[simple]

Aren't you guys called hydrologists? Or is that something completely different? Pretty soon all you water engineers are going to be all washed up.

Some are and some have no experience with hydrology beyond a college credit. I have served as a hydrologist but that is a term used mostly by USGS and other government agencies.

I live near streams but am not in the floodplain I can tell you that.

[mcphee]

That water isn't going to taste so good. A little oily.

Ahhh, yes. Oil, the famously water soluble substance.

[GBB]

Don't worry, altasnob will show up soon. Then we can have a nice, healthy, productive lawyers and engineers discussion about solving the water problems of the Western states.


Is there a good book after Cadillac desert?

The Wizard and the Prophet is worth a read. It’s tangential to Cadillac Desert.

[Falcon3]

Must read: Cadillac Desert

I picked this up a couple weeks ago and it’s riveting.Extremely highly recommended for anyone in the West

[schuss]

No kidding. The PE firms and hedge funds, big banks will go out and buy up all the water sources, and screw the US Citizen into thirst and then drain our life savings just for a glass of polluted/contaminated water.

I mean, they're already doing that. It was even at the end of the Big Short.

I'm with Buster though on unnecessary uses; it stunned me when I moved to CA and none of the places even metered for water. Also get rid of the water bottling plants.
Also, watershed management needs to be upped in importance, as in many areas it's a very exploitable patchwork.

[Kevo]

The Wizard and the Prophet is worth a read. It’s tangential to Cadillac Desert.

Thanks for this- I just got The Wizard and the Prophet on audible. I've been looking for a book that contrasts the industrialization of food with the environmental movement.

Years ago I met the peace corps volunteer who introduced chemical fertilizer to Nepal for use in rice production.

At first it was a miracle- crop yields went up. Starvation and infant mortality went down. Then the population exploded above the carrying capacity of the land and crop yields went down because of a reliance on chemical fertilizer. Farmers had to mortgage their land to pay for fertilizer, which was the only way to grow anything in the now nutrient deficient rice paddies. Human trafficking spiked, with people selling their children (in particular their daughters) into slavery and sexual bondage in India.

Nepal is now a net food importer and an unmitigated environmental disaster. the Peace Corps volunteer thought he was a miracle worker at the time, but he now wishes he could take everything back.

That conversation drastically affected my worldview.

[rideit]

Interesting, my twin sister was a Peace Core volunteer in Nepal, and speaks Nepali. I’ll have to chat with her about this.

[Kevo]

^for context, this particular Peace Corps volunteer was a 1960s era volunteer.

I'd be interested to hear your sister's take as well.

My longtime climbing partner and I helped that Peace Corps volunteer track down his cook 40ish years after he had volunteered in Nepal. We walked around Pokhara all day asking people if they knew the cook by name. For hours and hours the responses were more or less "come on, this is a huge city with half a million residents. Of course I don't know him."

And then this one little girl at a fruit stall was like "Oh him? He's my neighbor." She took us to the roof of a defunct shopping mall where cook dude was living with in a small shack and working as sort of a security guard. Neither side could believe it. Cook guy had us over for dinner, which consisted of endless dal bhat and several offers for my climbing partner or I to marry his daughter who was somewhere around our age at the time (early 20s).

To this day it's still one of the most unbelievable travel experiences I've had. It was a complete shot in the dark, needle in a haystack kind of moment.

[dan_pdx]

Oof, just lost out to another all-cash offer. People other than me seem to have a metric fuckton of money. Oh well, Portland's not the worst place to live, right? I mean, if you forget about the last 2 years or so.

[Bobcat Sig]

Oof, just lost out to another all-cash offer. People other than me seem to have a metric fuckton of money. Oh well, Portland's not the worst place to live, right? I mean, if you forget about the last 2 years or so.

Or the ten+ years it will take to clean it up again?

[dan_pdx]

Or the ten+ years it will take to clean it up again?

Yeah, but at some point in that process, we'll pass through another golden age like the 2000s, right?

[liv2ski]

Or the ten+ years it will take to clean it up again?

That's a bummer. I had hoped to visit sooner than later.

[dan_pdx]

That's a bummer. I had hoped to visit sooner than later.

We've had / have problems for sure, but I wouldn't necessarily skip a visit. Just don't plan on spending time downtown. The east side is still humming along, there are still interesting restaurants (and carts) around, the Gorge is beautiful as always, etc.

[altasnob]

Is Portland's homeless problem really any worse than Seattle, Tacoma, or San Francisco's? Not saying it isn't bad, but people like to rag on Portland. I was there this summer and it seemed the same ol, same ol, to me. I guess it just depends on location.

Don't be too bummed you're stuck in Portland. It has way better surfing, wind surfing, whitewater kayaking, food, music, culture, diversity, than Bellingham. And in Portland you are an hour away from the dry side of the mountains where as Bellingham it takes you 3 hours to get out of the rain.

[Toadman]

Seems like Portland RE is holding its own for now.

In September 2021, Portland home prices were up 8.3% compared to last year, selling for a median price of $525K. On average, homes in Portland sell after 11 days on the market compared to 8 days last year. There were 1,196 homes sold in September this year, down from 1,289 last year.

Portland Housing Market Trends

Median Sale Price
$525,364
+8.3% year-over-year

# of Homes Sold
1,196
-7.2% year-over-year

Median Days on Market
11
+37.5% year-over-year

[Bobcat Sig]

Is Portland's homeless problem really any worse than Seattle, Tacoma, or San Francisco's? Not saying it isn't bad, but people like to rag on Portland. I was there this summer and it seemed the same ol, same ol, to me. I guess it just depends on location.

Don't be too bummed you're stuck in Portland. It has way better surfing, wind surfing, whitewater kayaking, food, music, culture, diversity, than Bellingham. And in Portland you are an hour away from the dry side of the mountains where as Bellingham it takes you 3 hours to get out of the rain.

An hour to the dry side? From where Government Camp? Two hours, maybe. Or if you count Hood River as the dry side, then yes, an hour. Otherwise; you're looking at least two hours.

I digress.

The homeless problem has escalated significantly in the last 18 months. What was the usual sidewalk camping and dis-used lot turned village is now husks of stolen vehicles littering parks, massive garbage problems, sprawling camps anywhere not in a clean-up zone, and an alarming rise in petty crimes. Oh, and there's the rampant graffiti.

As someone who grew up here, and returned nearly seven years ago; the progress of the homelessness has been rapid and quite visible in the last two years.

[JayPowHound]

Anyone try to buy a home appliance lately?

Yup. Maybe a month ago.

Top-ish end Samsung washer and dryer from Lowes.

1k machines were already on sale because they are stocking the '22 models.

On top of that got lucky that all they had left were the floor models.

Scored the pair (2k+ retail) for about $900 delivered, installed, and the old ones taken away.

Deals are there, just gotta be patient and find them.

[dunfree]

We've had / have problems for sure, but I wouldn't necessarily skip a visit. Just don't plan on spending time downtown. The east side is still humming along, there are still interesting restaurants (and carts) around, the Gorge is beautiful as always, etc.

that doesn’t sound much different than the “golden age” of the early 00s, really.

[dan_pdx]

An hour to the dry side? From where Government Camp? Two hours, maybe. Or if you count Hood River as the dry side, then yes, an hour. Otherwise; you're looking at least two hours.

I digress.

The homeless problem has escalated significantly in the last 18 months. What was the usual sidewalk camping and dis-used lot turned village is now husks of stolen vehicles littering parks, massive garbage problems, sprawling camps anywhere not in a clean-up zone, and an alarming rise in petty crimes. Oh, and there's the rampant graffiti.

As someone who grew up here, and returned nearly seven years ago; the progress of the homelessness has been rapid and quite visible in the last two years.

I agree with all that. I have no idea how we compare to other cities, but things seem pretty bad here. Rampant catalytic converter theft, rampant car theft, police won't help recover stolen vehicles, quasi-legal hard drugs has resulted in more needles on the street, etc. etc.

[altasnob]

Same story in Seattle, Tacoma, San Francisco. It's bad everywhere, and yet the market is to the moon. There is always the suburbs.

Tacoma is having a rash of catalytic converter theft at the moment. Check out these signs Portland based Schnitzer Steel is putting up around town encouraging the tweekers. Normally right next to a homeless camp. Fucking bullshit.