Why does America Suck at Everything? - Page 15 - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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#15235705
wat0n wrote:Yeah, I don't know if Denver passed some restrictive zoning laws in the 1980s. Unfortunately many large cities did, not just in California.

For $2300 you probably need to make something closer to $7500 a month. IIRC the affordability rule of thumb is that rent should take 30% of your income at most.

Of course, this is clearly not the case in many markets. I think Miami is currently the worst, with the average household paying up to 50% of its income in rent.



Indeed, remote work will make this type of arrangement feasible. It should also show in terms of apartment prices at some point, at the more crazy expensive areas first.

In fact, I recall reading some tech workers in SF were willing to take pay cuts to be allowed to work remotely from a cheaper state, and would move out of California pretty much immediately. Going from, say, San Francisco to Tampa shouldn't represent such a big loss in terms of quality of life (and that's assuming it's even a loss) yet still save you money in terms of rent/mortgage and taxes to make it worthwhile even if you take a pay cut.

By the way, did you have to downsize when you moved there? I'm asking because apartments are pretty large here, a lot larger than in Chile. The standard of how "decent" housing looks like is far more demanding in the US. This type of thing is not easily considered when comparing rents, etc.

I do think Americans are too pampered and could perfectly downsize in the long run, at least in large cities. Not to Soviet levels, that's just way too much, but maybe to e.g. British levels.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/105 ... worldwide/


My sister lived in San Francisco for years and years. She had to move out of SF. Nothing you can get for less than a million dollars in her hood. No, my father had to retire with us in Denver. SF was way too hard for housing costs. But he lived in SF for years.

Downsize? No, in Denver, we bought a duplex in 1990s for a song. Then the market exploded. But the place we bought was made in the late 1890s. It was train style German Queen Anne style. TINY. TINY place. Super uncomfortable. Hardly could walk or turn around in the bathroom. No closet space. I lived in tiny places for decades. Mexico? No, that place is a palace in comparison. And super cheap. I got a nice three bedroom and two bathroom two story house in Mexico. The first floor has an office with tons of book shelves. I got a pool and a patio area for dining. I got in the second floor a huge terrace and three full huge bedrooms. Tons of SPACE in Mexico. I am happy. Most happy about large shoe closet and hammock hooks for hammocks in all the bedrooms. I got five hammocks in my house besides the queen size beds. Enormous plants, and trees and tropical flowers. Mexico is gorgeous what you can buy for what a luxury Mercedes Benz car costs in the USA. Denver or Austin or Chicago the same house would be a million or 2 million bucks for sure.

The historic house I bought downtown for my tourism stuff is a lot more expensive. But that is an old renovated corner Hacienda from the 1700s. With Old Spanish doors. Super cheap compared to the states. And infinitely prettier.

A lot of young people need to think about what they can afford to buy and where and see if they can make it work for them nowadays.

I bought some land near an eco tourism area for Flamingos. And a beach. I think we will do an eco lodge or casita over there with some fun stuff for tourism too. I love doing tourism stuff.
#15235713
Tainari88 wrote:I am interested in your ideas for making things better TTP.

I hope you open up a thread for me to read your ideas eh?

Thank you for your interest. However, I think if I start a thread about my ideas, you might be the only one who reads it. People do not like seeing their beliefs proved wrong. They prefer to continue to be wrong rather than admit they are wrong. So I think it is more effective for me to respond to messages in other threads and explain why others' beliefs are incorrect.
My ideas for sharing and cooperating have always worked for me. But they only work with really wonderful people who like sharing a lot. The ones who don't? No, they want to control and dominate and have 100 times more than the other person next to them. No way to cure that mentality. They need to do it on their own.

If someone wants to have 100x as much as the person next to them by earning it, by making commensurately greater contributions, I say more power to them: that means they will be increasing abundance for all. It is when the greedy want to have 100x more than others without earning it, by taking it, legally or otherwise, that it creates a problem. But it is pointless to hope that they will change their mentality. If we want to stop them from doing it illegally, then we have to enforce the laws that protect people's rights. If we want to stop them from doing it legally, we have to remove the laws that abrogate people's rights and thus enable them to do it.
#15235715
Tainari88 wrote:My sister lived in San Francisco for years and years. She had to move out of SF. Nothing you can get for less than a million dollars in her hood. No, my father had to retire with us in Denver. SF was way too hard for housing costs. But he lived in SF for years.

Downsize? No, in Denver, we bought a duplex in 1990s for a song. Then the market exploded. But the place we bought was made in the late 1890s. It was train style German Queen Anne style. TINY. TINY place. Super uncomfortable. Hardly could walk or turn around in the bathroom. No closet space. I lived in tiny places for decades. Mexico? No, that place is a palace in comparison. And super cheap. I got a nice three bedroom and two bathroom two story house in Mexico. The first floor has an office with tons of book shelves. I got a pool and a patio area for dining. I got in the second floor a huge terrace and three full huge bedrooms. Tons of SPACE in Mexico. I am happy. Most happy about large shoe closet and hammock hooks for hammocks in all the bedrooms. I got five hammocks in my house besides the queen size beds. Enormous plants, and trees and tropical flowers. Mexico is gorgeous what you can buy for what a luxury Mercedes Benz car costs in the USA. Denver or Austin or Chicago the same house would be a million or 2 million bucks for sure.

The historic house I bought downtown for my tourism stuff is a lot more expensive. But that is an old renovated corner Hacienda from the 1700s. With Old Spanish doors. Super cheap compared to the states. And infinitely prettier.

A lot of young people need to think about what they can afford to buy and where and see if they can make it work for them nowadays.

I bought some land near an eco tourism area for Flamingos. And a beach. I think we will do an eco lodge or casita over there with some fun stuff for tourism too. I love doing tourism stuff.


Right, but you got a good prize because Mexico is a lot poorer than the US.

The comparison you have to make is not you in Mexico vs you in the US. You have to compare a Mexican in Mexico vs an American in the US.

I don't know what's the housing affordability situation in Mexico, so maybe they are better off. But the average Mexican living in Mexico will live in a smaller home than the average American living in the US. Of course, the average American could just move to Mexico, and get a far larger home than he has now after selling his current home in the US market.

This wasn't a realistic option for active workers until the pandemic showed we don't need to be physically in the office to work. This has massive consequences that will begin to show, one of them is that people in wealthy countries will be able to do what you did.
#15235738
wat0n wrote:Right, but you got a good prize because Mexico is a lot poorer than the US.

The comparison you have to make is not you in Mexico vs you in the US. You have to compare a Mexican in Mexico vs an American in the US.

I don't know what's the housing affordability situation in Mexico, so maybe they are better off. But the average Mexican living in Mexico will live in a smaller home than the average American living in the US. Of course, the average American could just move to Mexico, and get a far larger home than he has now after selling his current home in the US market.

This wasn't a realistic option for active workers until the pandemic showed we don't need to be physically in the office to work. This has massive consequences that will begin to show, one of them is that people in wealthy countries will be able to do what you did.


A lot about prices has to do with the particular city or place you are thinking about buying a home or land in? For example Mexico City is a lot more expensive than the Yucatecan capital. Salaries in the Yucatan are very very low. So for the Yucatecan person buying a home that is about $65,000 US dollars when you are making $400 US dollars in average salary a month is a very very expensive home. For someone from the states used to Downtown Denver housing prices? Yucatan is a steal!

But, many people don't buy homes in Mexico. First, because of residency and visa requirements. The location if it is close to the coast it has to be through a bank trust. The good news is that Mexican real estate has never gone down. It is always going up in value. Just slower than in the USA in certain markets.

It has restrictions. You are only allowed to buy property in certain areas if you are foreign. Beach properities or less than half an hour from the coast? Has restrictions. But? Try buying a house near a tropical coastal zone with the dollar system? Super expensive. Puerto Rican coastal property or Hawaiian or Californian or Floridian coastal property is very expensive. Not so in the Mexican areas sometimes. So? It is all about what you love to do.

The place I bought in 2019 in Merida, Mexico is doubled in price since then. Even with a bad pandemic and tourism going down. Simply because the neighborhood is trendy and featured on Netflix and visited by TV crews etc. It is all about trendy crap. I never plan trendy crap. But it happened with my property.

You try to save money. But the most important thing is location for most real estate. If you buy in a location that no one wants to be there? It won't be very valuable. Usually some place with contamination, lots of crime and or no services or public transport and stuck in some cheap suburb dependent on a car.

I visited a lot of Mexican cities over the years. A lot of them.

I would never recommend people move to a place they don't know well.

A lot of US citizens and Canadians etc are complaining about not knowing Spanish and how hard that is? I tell them, just take some language lessons. It is not hard. Just be consistent.

First thing I did was avoid US American Real Estate brokers and agents in Mexico. They inflate all the prices. Go for Mexican agents. Mine was from Veracruz.
Last edited by Tainari88 on 27 Jun 2022 23:59, edited 1 time in total.
#15235741
Tainari88 wrote:A lot about prices has to do with the particular city or place you are thinking about buying a home or land in? For example Mexico City is a lot more expensive than the Yucatecan capital. Salaries in the Yucatan are very very low. So for the Yucatecan person buying a home that is about $65,000 US dollars when you are making $400 US dollars in average salary a month is a very very expensive home. For someone from the states used to Downtown Denver housing prices? Yucatan is a steal!

But, many people don't buy homes in Mexico. First, because of residency and visa requirements. The location if it is close to the coast it has to be through a bank trust.


Yes, visa requirements and the like are definitely an issue. But it's not impossible to overcome, I'm guessing Mexican-Americans may as well do that at some point.

Living the dream if you ask me 8)
#15235758
wat0n wrote:Yes, visa requirements and the like are definitely an issue. But it's not impossible to overcome, I'm guessing Mexican-Americans may as well do that at some point.

Living the dream if you ask me 8)



I love the place that I am at. It is my sueño mexicano eh?

I also have a baker that bakes Mexican stuff two doors down from me. She spoils my son with fresh bread and goodies all the time.

I never thought I would have such lovely places. Vale el esfuerzo.
#15235762
Tainari88 wrote:I love the place that I am at. It is my sueño mexicano eh?

I also have a baker that bakes Mexican stuff two doors down from me. She spoils my son with fresh bread and goodies all the time.

I never thought I would have such lovely places. Vale el esfuerzo.


Almost any country is a good place to live if you make enough money.

It's definitely worth it.
#15235778
Tainari88 wrote:@wat0n No. I don't like cold like in Chicago. Congelándose las nalgas no es para mi alma caribeña!


Yes, but it's gorgeous over the summer and fall.

And I don't even pay Denver levels of rent. I'll take the ass freezing anytime.
#15236160
America sucks so bad that at least 50 people from south of the border just died from the extreme heat of being smuggled into Texas in a tractor trailer in 100 Degree heat.
Their country must have really sucked.
#15237840
Truth To Power wrote:It can easily afford to. It merely prefers to take the wages earned by the productive and give them to the privileged.


TtP, here I can agree with you.

The 1st word there, "It" clearly refers to the society as a whole. The systems in place to decide such things let the rich earn endless dollars that they have no use for while paying their American workers too little to live on in an American way. The rich set the wages and the prices in this system.
.
#15237895
Steve_American wrote:The 1st word there, "It" clearly refers to the society as a whole. The systems in place to decide such things let the rich earn endless dollars that they have no use for

No, it legally entitles the privileged to take endless dollars without having to earn them through any commensurate contribution to production.
while paying their American workers too little to live on in an American way. The rich set the wages and the prices in this system.

While there is obviously and predictably a large overlap, there is nevertheless a crucial difference between the rich and the privileged. Ignore it at your civilization's peril.
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