patrick.net

DinOR,

I'm looking forward to TV "analysts" comparing home builders to the Big Three auto manufacturers. That would be pretty sweet and very fitting. McSuburbanAssaultVehicle, meet McCrappyOverpricedHovel.

Sellers are helping buyers slice their wrists.

allah,

Praise be! If a "buyer" can't afford the house or don't plan to stay long, maybe they should, eh, rent instead.

DinOR: I have also looked in to earth sheltered homes, particularly those made with shotcrete (spray-on concrete). I found the idea of an underground, energy-efficient home as very intriguing. Unfortunately, the sq.ft. costs come out about the same as a regular ol' McHovel, so what's the point? It would be a very expensive style statement.

I also looked at converted grain silos for unconventional housing. I had most factors worked out, except for stairs. But I thought it would be brilliant to build a secret lair in a grain silo. It's just sitting out there in the field, looking all agrarian, and then you walk up with a garage remote. One button push later, the hidden windows and door are revealed as the galvanized steel slides out of place.

Hey, a guy can dream, can't he? :)

Brand,

LOL, for a moment there I thought you were going to hide nuclear tipped missiles and laser armed sharks in those silos.

dryfly,

I think container conversions are awesome. At the very least, they're earthquake proof and termite proof.

And Container City, of course: http://www.containercity.com/

Shark tank? Nah. Well, unless they had frickin' laser beams on their heads! And perhaps flippy chairs on the ground floor recreation chamber. Then if someone starts rooting against the Eagles, I can just drop them into the cistern below.

The problem I have is, with flippy chairs into the cistern, how are you going to purify the drinking water afterwards? Even pirahnas leave something behind.

Then she will certainly be interested in the Rocky Mountain Foundry Project in Fort Collins, CO. The RMF is using steel cargo containers as artist studios.

http://www.fortcollinsweekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=127&Itemid=35

Er, forgive the enthusiasm... they intend to use steel cargo containers if they can find a location, sponsorship and funding.

But I think it kicks ass. :)

Brand,

The Eagles? Is that the band, the sports franchise (I assume there is one, right?) or do supervillans like to refer to their pets with capital letters?

I never thought about bone removal...

By Eagles I mean the NFL team. Although I might consider incinerating someone for mocking the band, just on principle. Any foul beasts in my secret lair will not have such mundane names. They will be either fearsome, such as Hounds of Despair, or ironically entertaining, such as Pander Bears to guard the harem.

Now, if perhaps there were instead a way to compost the insolent henchmen, that might be useful. I could use various species of nasty termites and worms to dispose of the evidence. And perhaps the flowers in the Zen Garden (of Doom) might respond well to such fertilizer.

Best of luck convincing your wife of the inherent genius. :)

But I have to admit I was sure he would’ve been tempted by the opportunity to “turn” Randy H

The offer still stands. I would love nothing more than for someone to convince me that now is a good time to buy. Renting is a serious pain in the ass for me. Having a mostly disabled elder and a young child makes renting very suboptimal. I'm data driven, rational, and am willing to pay a pretty hefty premium to own, plus I've been a homeowner for over a decade, so I should be easy prey if CR has anything at all of substance.

C'mon CR. Here's your chance to get a foothold in South Marin. Just think of the commissions.

Since there have been a few links to container/prefab sites, I thought I should pass along one that may appeal to the minimalists among us:

http://www.rocioromero.com/LVSeries/LVL.htm

Not my cup 'o tea, but hard not to appreciate the clarity of design.

This is a test...

allah,

Praise be! If a “buyer” can’t afford the house or don’t plan to stay long, maybe they should, eh, rent instead.

astrid er, eh,

That's why I titled the link :

Sellers are helping buyers slice their wrists.

Brand,

I had seen some time back where a fellow had finished out two containers and had them shipped around the world where he set them up in various port cities. I think it's great that the art community has broken the ice but I've always wondered why we didn't use them for prisons.

Now I don't want to get into some huge debate about prisons. Let's assume this individual is where he belongs for a minute ok? This would solve so much of the overcrowding and could be set up in heart beat.

Disaster relief. Rather than put a huge strain on the building materials supply chain (as Katrina did) ship these babies down to the coast! Re-useable as well. Very common to see these on job sites for secure storage and also used as temporary shops. I've heard they can be had for $1,500-$1,800 delivered.

SFWoman,

What in Montreal DOES age well?

The season is opening this week.

Don't I know it! I will be blogging much less rippin' pow a lot more in a few weeks!

SFWoman,

That would have been the same year the "Expo's" introduced MLB to Canadian fans. They are now the "DC Nationals" and their old stadium in Montreal is a real dump from what I hear. They refused to put ANY money into it.

allah,

Huh? I was agreeing with your original point and working out a way to address you.

Totally OT but.......

Has anyone else noticed that for about the 3rd time in 4 days there have been main Street media articles about 60's "icons" in court or back in court over copyright infringements? Over the last week we've had to endure claims from Jimi Hendrix' estate, Procol Harem and Jimmy Buffet (a regular) and I just wondered if anyone was as tired of it as I was?

DinOR,

Stupid American copyright running time. 20-25 years from registration makes much more sense.

astrid,

I'm hardly an expert it just is so depressing to have to "wade through" these p@ssing contests. I thought it was all about love and peace and dope man! You fight the urge to click on the link hoping against hope that there's some kind of interesting wrinkle there and...... nope. Just greed.

Home Depot a real stinker this morning w/CEO Bernie saying he doesn't see any catalyst for improvement in 2007. Buckle up!

King_Cobra,

Oh that's right. They're having the big lender's event in NY. The "We have another year of adjustment" line really floored me! With 2,500 more being laid off (MB's) I'd love to see some projections on what NAR's membership will look like after another year of........ adjustment?

Maybe instead of having a link to the "Boomer Death Clock" we could have a "simulated" realt-whore memberships count down?

CB,

Thanks for bringing some clarity to the issue. I remember as a kid Expo ball caps were something of a collectors item. Definitely cool.

Real estate agent caught between the sheets

This is an old story, but it is new to me.

Sorry, the link.

allah,

I'm in no way condoning the realt-whore's behavior but the daughter was 28 years old! I can see pissed off, I can see disgusted but shocked and upset? If she's 28 and still doesn't know where babies come from perhaps it's time she had?

Re the cottage in Chicago ...

I lived in Chicago from 1995-2000 around North & Wells. Much of the area was built post-fire in the 1870s. There was one "fire cottage" left just west of Wells, maybe about 1800 north. It had to be about 500 sq ft all in, on a standard lot of 20-25x100-125.

Whether you'd be allowed to build something that size these days is an open question.

P.S. Zillow shows the Chicago house I sold for $765k in 2000 peaked at about $1.5m a year ago. The zestimate now is under $1.1m. I hear from the neighbors that the fellow I sold to has been in Arizona a lot lately, diligently working to save a development project outside Phoenix. I can't help LMAO.

I’m in no way condoning the realt-whore’s behavior but the daughter was 28 years old! I can see pissed off, I can see disgusted but shocked and upset? If she’s 28 and still doesn’t know where babies come from perhaps it’s time she had?

Well, now she knows. :)

SFWoman,

I believe I was referring to the latter of the two. Whatever would she think if she made that fateful wrong turn through the "fruit loop" In Balboa Park? God we used to love doing that. U.S Navy Shore Patrol van w/searchlight on "high beam". It looked like the scene in "Something about Mary" w/Ben Stiller. Sure. You were just going to the bathroom. Course ya' were.

Punchbowl,

Oh...... you mean North AVENUE! That would be up by the Historical Society? Randy H lived up that way for several years. I'm from Cicero and hung out on the south side but the old man would take me up there on jobs from time to time. Nice area. At least it was then.

Punchbowl,

W Fletcher @ Sheffield here. The first company I started had a nice loft office down Sheffield near Diversy. We were the first "high tech" company in that little park, and drew quite a few puzzled looks from the various lawyers and architects in the building. My wife and I almost bought a rehabbed craftsman west of there, closer to Southport before my wife unexpectedly go the job that brought us out west.

Something on stressed households in Sydney, quoted on my blog:

Suffering in silence: a city on the edge of insolvency
Linda Morris Religious Affairs Writer
November 13, 2006

ONE in three Sydney households is beset by financial worries and almost one in seven is teetering on the edge of insolvency, a church survey has found.

The study commissioned by the Wesley Mission warns financial stress is greatest in the south-west and outer west, but is also pervasive across all parts of the city, including its more affluent suburbs.

Families reported forgoing family activities, borrowing from relatives or friends, failing to pay bills on time or being unable to make minimum credit card payments.

Five per cent said they had had to pawn an item, 4 per cent said they had gone without meals and a similar number could not afford to heat their homes.

The survey of 400 people was carried out in August. Since then last week's interest rate rise - the third this year - has added $40 per month to average mortgage repayments.

@Muggy,

Dude... didn't you see the chart (from last thread)?

My nominal g/f is renovating her kitchen, the plumber charges $88/hr! These guys are like the new aristocracy. An MD friend of mine only gets $40/hr to do locum work, and has to pay her own 401(k) out of it! Six years of medical study and 4 years family practice study, and the plumber streaks ahead at 2:1 from doing a tech school course! And can't speak English, and no-one's life is in the balance...

Let's see... from roughly ZERO as recently as 1999 to $715 Billion (almost 3/4 of a TRILLION dollars) today.

So it's the "Goldilocks economy" and "ownership society" that have been driving job creation and consumer spending for the last several years? Got it. Where's that NAR bong? I think I need a hit right now...

HARM,

Make that negative-ownership society.