BirdieNZ

13 ms·

121.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
It depends on where you live; properly speaking, the proportion of your rent that is caused either by regulatory capture or by land ownership is the "rent-seeking" kind of rent, the rest is "hiring a house" kind of rent.
122.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
Wouldn't this be primarily due to lack of car travel, rather than the city generally? As I understand it, urban dwellings and populations are per-capita more environmentally efficient, because density enables economies of scale.
123.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
In New Zealand we have a sharp cliff of building contracts; they're insanely busy for maybe another year at most, and then nothing new is in the pipeline. Building contracts pan out over years, and interest rates flow into property pri
124.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
> I would love to see industry averages on if pre-sale renovations make any sense at all. Considering the outright financial expenses, possible financing, potentially weeks/months of organizing contractors, dealing with overages, de
125.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
> A lot of newer kitchens have wooden floors, which is insane. What's insane about this? I grew up in a pretty basic old house with a wooden floor in the kitchen, I don't recall it being an issue in any practical sense.
126.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
In New Zealand we have a government organisation called ACC (Accident Compensation Corporation) which provides insurance for accidents and injuries. It prevents you from suing in this case: "ACC is the sole and compulsory provider of a
127.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
Use alarms and your calendar religiously, alarms for unmissable events, calendar for every appointment. Use your phone for this, you're probably addicted to scrolling or games on it anyway. Exercise and get good sleep. Caffeine helps b
128.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
Have you considered if you might have ADHD? If you feel like you have great potential but can never apply it to anything productive, or only for short periods of time, then it might be worth first doing an adult ADHD self-assessment checkli
129.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
We call this "Tall Poppy Syndrome" in New Zealand. If you're a tall poppy you get cut down to size. The only successful New Zealanders that are approved of are those that elevate NZ as a whole on the international stage and a
130.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman addresses this; it's more or less pre-internet but it speaks to how different media forms work quite differently due to their inherent nature. TV inherently is the way it is (and lectures, and
131.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
I take methylphenidate slow release, and have for several years now. If I take an extended holiday, the first ~week back definitely feels like there is a stronger effect, but days when I take it vs don't are very noticeable in how diff
132.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
I'm diagnosed with ADHD, I self-describe it as a mental retardation. Mentally ill seems accurate, too. I don't have a learning disability, per se, whereas most forms of mental retardation involve a learning disability. Perhaps tha
133.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
We've had Ritalin for ADHD treatment since 1954.
134.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
The original Monopoly, not sure how easy it is to get your hands on a modern version but it has two rulesets and you switch from classic Monopoly rules to Prosperity rules when a majority of players agree. The Prosperity rules are non-zero-
135.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
> Plenty of land Land is generally not very valuable by itself, it is locations that are valuable (specifically desirable locations in growing cities). There are highly limited locations available in Canadian cities, particularly the des
136.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
Note that this isn't a problem in wood frame buildings built with proper sound insulation, so it's more that regulations in many municipalities allow weak sound insulation, and developers build to the cheapest spec possible if the
137.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
The theory sounds good, but in practice we can see that rents stay quite stable as a ratio of income, and not as a ratio of interest rates, or house prices, or anything else that would be a landlord cost. Check out the rent to income ratio
138.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
Landlords in supply-constrained cities are able to charge the maximum rent their tenants can afford; and increase in landlord costs is thus not able to be passed onto the tenant, because if the tenant could bear more they would already be c
139.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
The difference between land (and natural resources) and gym memberships, 401ks etc. is that you can make more gyms and companies and investment fhnds, but the supply of locations and natural resources is limited. This means that land functi
140.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
> The landlord magically pulls a home out of thin air and some group of people maintain for them for free? The building-lord should receive some return for their investment, as they have created value and added to it through maintenance.
141.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
Can I not, as part of my local community, advocate for my right to build what I want on my land? Can the person who wants to have only low density not move somewhere else if the community decides to allow density?
142.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
The NIMBYs don't want to let me build what I want on my own land.
143.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
Who are these people who think having enough parking spaces is a bad thing? The closest I can think of are people who think parking minimum regulations should be removed, so that stores and house owners can decide for themselves how much pa
144.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
It's hard to tell, because it somewhat coincided with interest rates moving (first down, then now up), but it seems to have increased rental supply enough that the rental market is becoming competitive. Land prices generally went up, w
145.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
> You can't physically fit unlimited people in a small area. You can certainly fit a lot more people in most major Western cities, without even much difference in lifestyle. Simply allow people to build what they want on their lan
146.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
> we turned housing into a retirement scheme It wasn't turned into a scheme by anyone, it's the nature of land. See Ricardo's Law of Rent; owners of land are able to extract rent from the tenants, and in desirable location
147.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
Right now we have lots of income tax, but most countries have very low land value tax/property tax. This means you don't "own" all the fruits of your labour, but you "own" land, which derives its value from the
148.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
It disincentivises labour, yes.
149.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
> But this push to take away the freedom of people to not live on top of each other is another form of classism This sounds like a ridiculous straw-man; who's pushing to take away freedom of people to not live on top of each other?
150.
by BirdieNZ 4y ago
If interest rates go to 18%, you bet the house would drop to $550,000. I'm expecting house prices in my country to drop at least 30% in the next couple of years and I'm only expecting interest rates to get to around 10%, 18% would

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