WampaLord posted:

Maybe you should have better things to do with your day than chat up strangers in parking lots and give them rides.

I'm missing the "fun" part of that story, and also it easily could have ended with you getting stabbed.

E: VVV Yea, I'm the beep boop robot for not wanting to waste my precious free time on some random idiot.

Tiny Brontosaurus posted:

Haha holy poo poo you're the worst. Why do you inconvenience yourself with the inefficiency of being alive.

WampaLord posted:

Jesus that's harsh.

Fine, I'm a sociopath, I guess.

Parallel Paraplegic posted:

I mean I grew up in and vehemently hate a lot about the south but the people here are genuinely pretty outgoing and like talking to you about whatever or just helpin' out.

Tiny Brontosaurus posted:

A sociopath who better hope he never gets a flat tire.

PCjr sidecar posted:

Southerners are into the long con; life and scams move faster in the northeast.

Parallel Paraplegic posted:

Planet X posted:

Shut up about this horseshit and post bwm

PCjr sidecar posted:

Southerners are into the long con; life and scams move faster in the northeast.


He works hard for his bucks to pay someone to handle that for him if the need arises.

-or-

A Self-reliant Ron Swanson type would never accept help.

Planet X posted:

Shut up about this horseshit and post bwm

pathetic little tramp posted:

Whole lotta non-Southerners in this thread, I met a very nice person who was driving from Louisiana to her home in Canada while I was filling up at a filling station in Tennessee over the weekend. We're not gremial friends now of course, but it was in fact completely normal to notice her Ontario licence plate and ask if she was vacationing or heading to Canada and wish her well on the rest of her journey.

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

- Brother's ex-roommate took the bitcoins from his PC after he died.

silvergoose posted:

Who doesn't have AAA? I'm confused by this line of questioning.

Sundae posted:

I don't have an article for this, purely anecdote based on conversations I've had since moving to the SF bay area and personal observations:

A lot of people here are setting themselves up for the ultimate BWM, so BWM that they're counteracting their personal windfalls from FYG(W)M under Prop 13 of 1978. (Prop 13 is that godawful property value assessment law that's been actively loving up California for >30 years now. Wikipedia for more details; I could go on forever.)

Long story short on Prop 13, for background info: Your house value, for taxable purposes, cannot go up by more than 2% in any given year. If you bought that house for $100,000 in 1985 and lived in it for 30 years, you're going to pay property taxes as if it's worth $200K even though the market price for the house is now $1,800,000. This creates a hilarious incentive to not ever sell or downsize unless you get a pie-in-the-sky good deal, because whoever buys the house (including your next purchase when you downsize) will have the tax value reset to the current market value. It's pretty ugly, but there's the TL;DR version. (Actually, another proposition passed in 1985 lets elderly people transfer their low tax assessments to new properties, so they never feel the impact at all; taxes are for young people, duh!)

There are loving Teslas, BMWs, Porsches, Jaguars, etc etc all over the place here. Living here is the first time I've seen a Lotus outside of a video game, same with a Maserati. There is a literal Rolls-Royce dealership / garage in my town. The average and median household incomes are both just shy of $100K in my town. The average house price is $1.8M, and the average condo (not many in the town, to be fair) clocks in at $1.1M. The average rent on a 2BR is $3,500ish per month. (I'm paying $3,795, but receive a grossed-up $2,500 post-tax subsidy per month for my rent from my employer. It's the only way I can afford to live here.) 42% of the town population is over the age of 45, and approximately 20% is over the age of 65.

In 2005, the average detached house price was $931K. In 1998, it was $531,000. Data was not easily googled in low enough effort for this post prior to 1998, so gently caress it. You get the point either way. Live here for 20 years, you're looking at a 300% increase in your home value.

I chatted with some people at one of the library's book clubs about the cost of living here and how well off everyone seems to be. I was surprised to find out how many of them are making what appear to be astronomical mortgage payments far out of line with what their purchase dates should've indicated. Ends up, they're not paying mortgages per sé, they're making HELOC payments.

With house values skyrocketing so much, it appears that lots of these people bought fancy cars, high-end furnishings, etc etc, using home equity loans. The old guy I see tooling around town in the brand new, bright red Ferrari (not kidding - he exists) very likely "paid" for it using an equity loan against his house, which he's only able to afford to live in because he and his generation wrote the state's tax code to specifically benefit them and gently caress over everyone younger than them.

BWM: Taking all the benefits gained from loving over your children and spending them on fancy cars, then leaving them a house with a completely unnecessary HELOC against it when you die.

(Unless this is GWM because the only people who'll get hosed over by it are the next generation?)

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

This is sad, but also kind of hilarious.

https://www.reddit.com/r/relationships/comments/51pynu/my_m32_younger_brother_m22_passed_away_5_years/

- OP's brother invested 10's of thousands of dollars in bitcoins
- Brother invests more in bitcoin mining equipment.
- Brother uses bitcoins to buy tons of drugs around 2011 from the Silk Road
- Brother dies from overdose of said drugs.
- Brother's ex-roommate took the bitcoins from his PC after he died.
- The $20k of bitcoins are now worth around $100k
- OP didn't notice for 5 years and now wants to know if he can get in touch with the police or "someone at bitcoin" to get the money back.

MrKatharsis posted:

AAA is BWM since you can get a tow add on to your car insurance for like $10.

pathetic little tramp posted:

Yeah California is pretty rotten for bwm. When I worked there, in an office of 60 people I was one of 3, literally 3, who was contributing to a 401(k) or had any type of retirement account. Of course, the big problem is loving housing costs are skyrocketing and wages are not. The starting salary 10 years ago was 28k + benefits, the starting salary now is 16$/hr + benefits are available for purchase. Hard as hell to contribute to a retirement fund when your rent is 1200 w/ roommate but still, amongst the starters, 50% buy brand new BMWs or Lexuses.

Barry posted:

I'm trying to remember that line about how Bitcoin is slowly figuring out why financial regulations are in place.

Wickerman posted:

relying on towing on your car insurance is BMW because if you use it, it counts as an insurance claim!

AAA costs more up-front but is probably better with insurance at the end of the day

MrKatharsis posted:

Not with any insurance I've ever had(Geico, Nationwide, Progressive). I've used it regularly once every few years with zero impact on my premium. It certainly doesn't show up in the "claims" section of my online account.

Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:

I mean, it's strictly more traceable than a suitcase full of money would be. Of all the forms of money that can be used to buy drugs and are able to be stolen upon death by a roommate, bitcoin is the most traceable.

fake edit: okay maybe gold bars would be better - they aren't traceable still but like, they're really heavy if you have 100k worth and you can probably find the storage locker with a little PI work

Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:

fake edit: okay maybe gold bars would be better - they aren't traceable still but like, they're really heavy if you have 100k worth and you can probably find the storage locker with a little PI work

H110Hawk posted:

And those companies doling out $2500 rent subsidies are part of the problem!

Craptacular posted:

100k of 24k gold only weighs about 5 1/4 pounds. It's rather dense for its weight but I wouldn't call it heavy.

Sundae posted:

Agreed, though otherwise they'd have no workers given there is still no incentive for an owner (Prop 13 applies to secondary and investment properties as well) to drop his prices until Prop 13 goes away. There's a reason so many of the tech companies are bleeding workers / moving sites elsewhere right now, even apart from the unicorn bubble. Even in tech fields, the pay doesn't keep up with the cost of living. Most companies end the rent subsidies after 2-3 years, which coincidentally is just about the median employee tenure duration. Go figure!

I love my job here, but it's still extremely likely that I'll head back east the moment my rent subsidies end. It's too BWM to pay more in rent than I'd pay in Manhattan for comparable pay to anywhere on the east coast, gorgeous weather and relaxed work environment or not.

blackmet posted:

Depends on the state. In Colorado, tow claims and glass chips don't affect your rate.

If you replace the windshield every year or file, like, 6 towing claims a year, though, you'll be dropped.

H110Hawk posted:

As now landed gentry I see the appeal in FYGM of prop 13, but jesus it is draining this state dry. There is no penalty for allowing market values to skyrocket, so as long as you can "get in" you're golden. (I live in LA burbs.)

BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:

47% property tax increase

MrKatharsis posted:

AAA is BWM since you can get a tow add on to your car insurance for like $10.

Wickerman posted:

that shouldnt be legal anywhere

BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:

I dunno, I'm not some huge tax protestor but California public spending has at something like tripled in the last 20 years which in real terms is better than a 100% increase with only a 20% corresponding increase in population. It's hard to be too sympathetic when there are unfettered spending increases every year and then all the local governments cry because they can't arbitrarily tax the piss out of all the homeowners to pay for it.

I got a 47% property tax increase this year due to a computerized revaluation and it was an expensive and time consuming pain in the rear end to battle with appeals and appraisals. It'd be nice to have some legal protection from that kind of tax shock.

Wickerman posted:

that shouldnt be legal anywhere

BEHOLD: MY CAPE posted:

I dunno, I'm not some huge tax protestor but California public spending has at something like tripled in the last 20 years which in real terms is better than a 100% increase with only a 20% corresponding increase in population. It's hard to be too sympathetic when there are unfettered spending increases every year and then all the local governments cry because they can't arbitrarily tax the piss out of all the homeowners to pay for it.

I got a 47% property tax increase this year due to a computerized revaluation and it was an expensive and time consuming pain in the rear end to battle with appeals and appraisals. It'd be nice to have some legal protection from that kind of tax shock.

quote:

that shouldnt be legal anywhere

Sundae posted:

I don't have an article for this, purely anecdote based on conversations I've had since moving to the SF bay area and personal observations:

A lot of people here are setting themselves up for the ultimate BWM, so BWM that they're counteracting their personal windfalls from FYG(W)M under Prop 13 of 1978. (Prop 13 is that godawful property value assessment law that's been actively loving up California for >30 years now. Wikipedia for more details; I could go on forever.)

Long story short on Prop 13, for background info: Your house value, for taxable purposes, cannot go up by more than 2% in any given year. If you bought that house for $100,000 in 1985 and lived in it for 30 years, you're going to pay property taxes as if it's worth $200K even though the market price for the house is now $1,800,000. This creates a hilarious incentive to not ever sell or downsize unless you get a pie-in-the-sky good deal, because whoever buys the house (including your next purchase when you downsize) will have the tax value reset to the current market value. It's pretty ugly, but there's the TL;DR version. (Actually, another proposition passed in 1985 lets elderly people transfer their low tax assessments to new properties, so they never feel the impact at all; taxes are for young people, duh!)

There are loving Teslas, BMWs, Porsches, Jaguars, etc etc all over the place here. Living here is the first time I've seen a Lotus outside of a video game, same with a Maserati. There is a literal Rolls-Royce dealership / garage in my town. The average and median household incomes are both just shy of $100K in my town. The average house price is $1.8M, and the average condo (not many in the town, to be fair) clocks in at $1.1M. The average rent on a 2BR is $3,500ish per month. (I'm paying $3,795, but receive a grossed-up $2,500 post-tax subsidy per month for my rent from my employer. It's the only way I can afford to live here.) 42% of the town population is over the age of 45, and approximately 20% is over the age of 65.

In 2005, the average detached house price was $931K. In 1998, it was $531,000. Data was not easily googled in low enough effort for this post prior to 1998, so gently caress it. You get the point either way. Live here for 20 years, you're looking at a 300% increase in your home value.

I chatted with some people at one of the library's book clubs about the cost of living here and how well off everyone seems to be. I was surprised to find out how many of them are making what appear to be astronomical mortgage payments far out of line with what their purchase dates should've indicated. Ends up, they're not paying mortgages per sé, they're making HELOC payments.

With house values skyrocketing so much, it appears that lots of these people bought fancy cars, high-end furnishings, etc etc, using home equity loans. The old guy I see tooling around town in the brand new, bright red Ferrari (not kidding - he exists) very likely "paid" for it using an equity loan against his house, which he's only able to afford to live in because he and his generation wrote the state's tax code to specifically benefit them and gently caress over everyone younger than them.

BWM: Taking all the benefits gained from loving over your children and spending them on fancy cars, then leaving them a house with a completely unnecessary HELOC against it when you die.

(Unless this is GWM because the only people who'll get hosed over by it are the next generation?)

Shadowhand00 posted:

Also living in the Penninsula and probably in the same town, BGame!

I always figured people were either living way outside their means, old money, or just all highly paid tech execs. I never figured the degree of bwm though.

Did you hear about the new rent control ordinance around here?

http://www.smdailyjournal.com/artic...6425167903.html

I feel especially bad for the person in the story but this has become common with the rash of rent increases all over this city. Prior to finding our current residence, we were paying $2000 for a tiny 1br which had its rent bumped up to $3000 the next year. poo poo's going to get ridiculous with the property owners in this area if this passes.