Real Estate
Real estate is in the news locally because of the fires and subsequent loss of many thousands of homes in Sonoma County. There was a housing shortage even before the fires and now there are questions about re-building on burned properties; it seems as though even insured property owners are unable to rebuild because of increases in material prices, permits, and labor costs.Residents with homes are encouraged to build granny units on their properties, and the permits for those have been reduced, as well as, so they say, the usual red tape. Real estate prices in general have been rising, often to amazing levels.
I tried all the tricks I know to post a cartoon from our local cartoonist Steven Pastis (Pearls Before Swine) but protective software precluded it. So please read it at the LINK before reading on. There, thanks for following directions.
So a condo unit nearly across the street had a for sale sign on it yesterday, and today there was an open house. We just went over to take a look. It is quite a bit nicer than ours; one story, wood floors, gas fireplace, lots of upgrades. But the price is more than 50% higher than we paid one year ago. Of course , this is asking price, so who knows? It is $60K over the price an identical unit sole for 1 ½ years ago, the very unit we first looked at when we considered moving. And, as described by Pastis in the cartoon, we saw several neighbors there, scoping it out.
Do you go to open houses? Is it for research or is it for fun. I know several couples who do this for fun, and they treat the activity as entertainment, much like searching out yard and estate sales. We saw this when we had our own yard sale.
During Yesterday’s KTK I mentioned (via smartphone) that we had just met another couple who randomly sat at our table. We were so compatible that we exchanged phone numbers and promised to meet for dinner sometime at our favorite Best of Burma restaurant. I have been thinking about how unusual this was, discovering new friends at an advanced age. I do have a number of Kossack friends, very dear friends, but we were drawn together by a common political interest. The meeting at the St. Patrick’s Day dinner was just amazingly random,
How often or how easily do you make friends nowadays? Does it seem more difficult the older one gets? Is most of your circle of friends from the distant past? Has Facebook helped you rekindle old friendships?
And as usual, an open thread in KTK is the friendliest place of all.