Random Chit Chat

[Celery]

Or hang on to that lot and wait for the city to grow where that lot become prime property.

 

[root]

It's funny; People talk as if cost of living is completely absurd, yet, last year, I purchased a reasonably-sized lot in an okay area for a whopping $5,024. The only downside is that I'm going to have to jackhammer a ridiculously thick slab off of it before building.

I can't say I get it. It seems as if people's standards have risen, rather than the actual costs. Everything in our society is lately is just... MORE MORE MORE.

it depends where you are.

There is little to no land available for building in towns here in the UK, a field where you may build on the edge of town, (assuming you can get permission to do that may cost ~£100,000 (that's $127k US) - thats going to be large enough to put a number of houses on it though.


I'm currently trying to buy a house, in the (semi rural) area I live (about 60 miles outside london) a 2 bedroom house is a little over a quarter million pounds to buy.
three bedrooms start around that and go towards a half million UK.


renting here, 2 bedroom houses 700 - £1000 per month.
3 bedroom start around 900 and got to 1500.

20 miles down the road in Oxford the prices are such that your £700 a month is what you might pay for a room in a shared house, or a studio flat.


I have a friend who lives in London, he lives in a 1 bedroom flat with his wife and 2 children, the rent is £1500 a month.
houses are not really available for much less than a half million for a 1 room flat. if you want a 3 bedroom house you're looking at the 2 million pound range in London.

you have gas + water + electric + council tax (city taxes) on top of that.


people talk as if the cost of living is absurd because it is.
an 80 meter square. (860 square foot) property should not cost over a quarter million pounds.


I recently looked at a 3 bedroom place, the bedroom dimensions were as follows:
bedroom 1 listed as 15'6" x 9'11 (but the room is L shaped with a really thin L so the usable space is more like 9' x 9'

bedroom 2, 10' x 7'
bedroom 3 8'5 x 6' (yes you read that right I could not actually lay down in that room in the shortest side.)

downstairs, there was a 15' x 15' kitchen/dining room, (but again, it was a funny shape with the stairs in it, like 2 squares stacked off centre over each other.
a living room that measured, 12' x 12'

basically the plan is 27' x 15' and it is on 2 floors.

810 square foot. (yes actually smaller than the 2 bedroom place I want to buy now!)

the price £300,000, = $383,000 USD

for a house with bedrooms that you can barely fit a bed into!



Land prices are much cheaper in the US. - there is a good reason for that, 66 million people in the UK living in a 242,500Km2 landmass.

for reference Wyoming is bigger than the country that I live in (253,000Km2) it has population 586,000

~5% larger, with 0.8% of the population.

simply put, there is just a higher premium on land here because there is less of it.


search garage for sale London, you'll find that a single concrete garage costs about 3 times as much as the land plot that you bought to put a house on!

 

[foothead]

(This is my third time typing this, so I give up if it fails again.)

I should have clarified: I get that it's legitimately bad in some places. Even in my city, there are areas that are ridiculously expensive. I know there are considerations such as work, family, and friends, but my opinion, in general, on the matter is to simply move where you can afford to live.

Here is why I responded as I did: People make the exact same complaints in my city. The reality is that these people simply do not want to move into a predominantly black neighbourhood, where the housing costs are much lower.

The lot I purchased should, by all means, be of high value. It is right in the center of the city (the neighbourhood is even called Central City.) It directly faces a decent-sized park. If I walk into the street and look right, I see the Superdome. The elevation is reasonable, and it's not marked a flood zone under the new FEMA scheme. Yet, the value remains comically low.

Is there where I ideally want to live? Of course not! That would be Salida, CO. However, I am practising what I said earlier: Move where you can afford to live. New Orleans is a great city, which particularly appeals to me by having the best bicycle infrastructure of anywhere in the South. The high tolerance for eccentrics is also of great benefit to me: I am treated much better here than in the neighbouring city of Baton Rouge.

Regardless of the cause, all of this weirdness is my gain: Within three years, I'm going to have a house in a great location, in a great city, for less than the cost of a new luxury-model Hyundai. All I have to do is put up with *oh so spooky* black people. The horror! /s

 

[Celery]

The black people ain't bad folks, it's the youths that are the problem.

 

[Smart_Guy]

What about purple people? They are cool too.

 

[AMD_man]

What about purple people? They are cool too.

I guess you are a better man than I am.

 

[Celery]

What about purple people? They are cool too.

Why sure, you folks are ok.

 

[Smart_Guy]

Purple looks tasty. Whenever I see something purple my appetite strikes. It reminds me of cakes and ice cream for some reason.

 

[Wallaby Dan]

Aawww, the old purple people eater!! Hehe!!

 

[Celery]

Looks like what I said zoomed over SG's head.