CanofWorms
1yr ago
You may be yelling into the void here with this comment, but I’d argue this deserves one of the monthly top comment awards.
CanofWorms
1yr ago
Has anyone here ever purchased a rental property? I'm considering purchasing a single-family home and I'm curious how someone selects a specific property and a specific neighborhood/location.
Selecting the property itself seems fairly straightforward: work with a realtor to find a house within your budget and make sure it doesn't have any major issues. I know what I'm looking for: a house that is move-in ready and doesn't need a whole lot of fixing up. Obviously, there will be upkeep costs and I'm realistic about that. What I really don't want is to purchase a 200k house and find out I need to replace the entire foundation for another 50 grand. This seems like something a realtor can help me with especially if the house has publicly available inspections.
I already have a general idea of the location where I want to buy. I have family who live close by and they would be able to help me manage the property. But even within a 5-10 mile area, I'm thinking there must be criteria for selecting a better neighborhood than others. Obviously cost comes into play here as well, but without spending a lot of time on the ground, I'm unsure how I would select a location where the house *at least *retains its value.
Any input from those with rental properties, especially those who own in a different state, would be appreciated.
CanofWorms
1yr ago
I disagree. Just don’t say it in a creepy/gross way.
CanofWorms
1yr ago
I discovered this list the other day, you may find it useful:
CanofWorms
1yr ago
I just ordered four books from EBay: Beloved, The Count of Monte Cristo, Nixonland, and Snow Crash, the latter two of which I believe I received recommendations for on this forum. I spun the roulette wheel and started with Beloved, got three pages in and said, nope this one can wait. I pivoted to Snow Crash and also found the first 50 or so pages painfully dull. But I’m now about a quarter of the way through and am slightly more intrigued. Looking forward to all of them.
CanofWorms
1yr ago
Someone posted it last week. The man’s got talent, but there’s something about overly political music that just rubs me the wrong way.
CanofWorms
1yr ago
Maybe he found his soul mate and realized he didn’t need a Motte account anymore
CanofWorms
1yr ago
I'd probably go hang out with my male friends and commiserate about how it's both a blessing and a curse to be in such a situation. I also don't think there's anything wrong/socially inappropriate with remarking upon a woman's body if she's decided to wear minimal clothing. As long as it's done in a joking/non-creepy way. Something like, "GodDAMN Jill, have you been working out?!" This allows you to address the obvious: that there is a woman who your brainstem wants to have sex with, but your frontal cortex knows you cannot.
I'm going to find myself in this situation this weekend, so maybe I can report back my findings.
If beautiful women want to wear string bikinis and thongs and allow me to gawk at them (slyly), I can only full-throatedly endorse their decision.
I actually don’t find much of a difference in seeing women dressed in tight, skin-showing dresses vs seeing women in thong bikinis. Either way, they’re still incredibly desirable.
CanofWorms
1yr ago
I just wonder why are all these men on the fringe of politics so obsessed with MMA? Zuck, Elon, Joe Rogan, Sam Harris, Lex Friedman, Mark Andreeson. Maybe it’s just my complete lack of interest in fighting or learning to fight, but I find it a bit annoying. Whatever happened to playing golf and tennis?
CanofWorms
1yr ago
I finished The Power Broker. I’m not sure if it was worth spending 3 months of my life reading versus reading another 3 or 4 books in the same timeframe. But it was one helluva read. I actually think Robert Moses has aged much better than the book portrays him. Because even though he did a lot of negative things, particularly when it came to displacing minorities, he actually got shit done! Freeways, housing, bridges, stadiums, parks, dams, I mean an amazing amount of public infrastructure. He takes a lot of heat in the books because he was so obsessive about building car infrastructure rather than public transport, and rightfully so, but it’s amazing the way he was able to leverage power to cut through red tape and get things done. He’s a complicated figure, no question about it, but as someone who lives in San Francisco, I think we could use a Robert Moses or two.
After spending months on the Power Broker, I ripped through In Cold Blood in less than a week. What a compelling book. It’s as good as any fiction story I’ve ever read and I highly recommend it, especially for a poolside or summer reading list.
CanofWorms
1yr ago
Why would you want to increase (improve) your tolerance? Only needing to drink one to two beers to feel the effects of alcohol is a blessing.
With that said, if you do continue your weekly alcohol usage, I think you could expect your tolerance to ramp up fairly quickly.
CanofWorms
1yr ago
Whatever you decide to read, I highly recommend taking notes. I find I forget everything I read unless I really take the time to summarize and write things down.
CanofWorms
1yr ago
Apt Pupil and The Body weren’t done under the Richard Bachman name. They were part of a four novella collection called Different Seasons. But I agree, those are two of his best stories.
CanofWorms
1yr ago
Stephen King? The Stand, It, The Shining, Salems Lot, The Dark Tower, his short stories, all are fantastic.
If you’re looking for a one off brilliant piece of fiction, Lonesome Dove is great.
CanofWorms
1yr ago
REVIT
CanofWorms
1yr ago
The problem with Rotten Tomatoes has always been the use of a positive review to create the RT % score. A review that awards a movie 2.5 stars out of 4 is typically considered a good review and adds to the overall tomato meter score. This leads to problems where extremely good movies (think individual critic scores of 3.5 to 4 stars out of 4) earns a similar RT rating as a mediocre superhero movie (which earns 2.5 stars out of 4). I think a lot of blockbuster, big budget movies are not panned appropriately, leading to an inflated RT score. This, coupled with studios attempts to wine and dine movie critics, coupled with an extremely liberal use of the word “verified critic” leads to high RT scores.
Just look at Mission Impossible 7. That movie had a 94% RT score last time I looked. This movie was nowhere near as good as MI4, 5 or 6. Entertaining as hell? Yes. Worth the watch? Absolutely. But they weren’t making No Country For Old Men or Goodfellas here. Rotten tomatoes is an inherently broken tool, one that should only be used as a jumping off point, not the be-all, end-all.
CanofWorms
1yr ago
Doubtful. Police don’t really get out of their cars in California anymore.
CanofWorms
1yr ago
There are red light cameras up in Redding. Found that out the hard way.
CanofWorms
1yr ago
That would indeed be the argument in favor of speed cameras. But I don't personally believe a person should be automatically ticketed for going 76mph on the freeway. I don’t really have a problem with speeding tickets, so long as they are given by actual police officers. But to institute a blanket automated speeding ticket manufacturing facility rubs me the wrong way. There’s no room for nuance, and nuance of the law is a vital part of trust in the law.
I view this as a clear cash grab, similar to privatized parking ticket enforcement. And they justify it by wrapping it under the banner of safety. IMO, there a lot more important criminal issues to focus on than automated speeding tickets.
CanofWorms
1yr ago
You do you, everyone has a different risk tolerance.
CanofWorms
1yr ago
Not exactly local and certainly not goofy, but California may be legalizing speed cameras soon:
https://www.foxla.com/news/speed-limit-cameras-california-cities-state-assembly-bill-645.amp
It’s hard to think of legislation that I’m more opposed to. I know, I know, safety and all that. But good lord, how much more do we need to milk the middle class via tickets?
CanofWorms
1yr ago
Again, nothing is necessarily safe in a 3-5 year time horizon with the exception of a savings account, CD, federal bonds, or a money market account (others may quibble with the last one, but it’s generally true). So I think you need to have a better idea of what you’re saving for. If you think you may buy a house in 3-5 years, you can certainly invest your money in the stock market, but there is a risk that you will lose money. Now if you just have an amorphous idea of I want to have more money in 5 years but there’s nothing I really plan to buy, then going for an overall index fund may be the move.
CanofWorms
1yr ago
That Boglehead thread is a nice throwback. I remember reading it for hours and still not getting a conclusive answer.
Tons to do in DC in the winter. Some of my favorites:
-hike in Manassas National Park. Great spot to bring the dog and usually pretty empty. There’s a nice 5 mile loop if you’re into that sort of thing. About 45 minutes from DC.
-Theodore Roosevelt Island. Another hiking spot in the Potomac River, very close to DC. Small, but cool. Highly recommended.
-Mount Vernon. About a 30 minute drive south of DC, you can visit where George Washington lived and is buried.
-Shenandoah National Park. It’s about a two hour drive from DC, but an amazing hiking spot. There are some cabins up that way, but they might be closed in the winter.
-My personal favorite: Fords Theater. You can go see where Lincoln was shot, and it’s an incredible feeling to look into the viewing window knowing that a monumental piece of history happened right there.
-DC Mall. Just walk the mall. Or better yet, if the weather is ok, ride bicycles around. There are of tons of monuments and statues to see. It may be cold, but definitely worth spending a few hours here.
-Museums: all the national museums are free. My favorites are the Black History Museum and the Holocaust Museum. You’ll probably need to get tickets for both of these, so check out the websites before you go.
-DC is a very dog friendly city. There are regular human parks and dog parks everywhere. Arlington even more so.
I personally doubt you’ll see snow. It doesn’t really snow in DC anymore, and if it does, it’s mostly in January and February. You might get lucky with some snow, and if you do, the city becomes a magical place. Walking around the mall, looking at monuments covered in snow is awesome.
Hit me up if you have any other questions. There’s honestly so much to do in DC, I don’t think you’ll struggle to fill your days.
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