Happy New Year You Surly Bastards!
Everything posted by Larry T. Spider
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Residential Slumlords, Holler!
How well off are they from the business? I’ve seen people with a lot of properties that basically scratch out a middle class life. I know a guy in Arkansas with about 150 and he seems to be doing pretty damn well. I’m sure it’s like any other business where some are savvy and successful and others are not.
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Residential Slumlords, Holler!
Didn’t know this thread existed until now. Bought my first rental in Kansas City as the price to rent ratios are decent. Much better than Austin. It’s been about 10 months and I haven’t had any complaints. Management company is ok, tenant pays on time, very minor repairs, and the rent covers the mortgage plus a little. Then comes the county. I get a letter threatening me with 180 days of jail time if I don’t fill out a pile of paperwork (by hand, nothing online) and send the health department a money order for $42. Waste of half a day. Now I’m dealing with the tax appraisal. Bought it for 185k with an appraisal at 189k. They came in at 300k. LOL. Nothing in this neighborhood has EVER sold for close to that. I filed an appeal for an online hearing. They confirmed in person. Now I’m emailing a black hole because they won’t talk on the phone. I’ll never buy anything else in that county regardless of how good of a deal it is.
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Mass Shootings
My right wing friends texted that it was blackrock/palestine related so we can probably rule that out.
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Texas -- a failed state
Wannabe rurals. Work office jobs but still want to dress country and drive big trucks at 90 mph on a toll road straight into the city center from as far out as possible.
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Lake Travis 2024: Countdown To Zero
Going to be a long countdown….but it will be relevant again at some point. Droughts, floods, and not much in between.
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2025 Thread of the Rains
Let the water wasting commence!
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2025 Thread of the Rains
I keep telling the bums that no more than 3 can piss at the same time or this is what will happen.
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2025 Thread of the Rains
Really trying to avoid wading into the blame game but a dam breaking changes the scenario some, at least in my mind.
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2025 Thread of the Rains
Are there any formal reports that the damn near mystic broke?
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2025 Thread of the Rains
I’m sure it won’t make a difference but I hope this changes how people react to officials putting weather related precautions in place, especially in central Texas. Schools superintendents get bitched out every time they cancel school and it doesn’t turn out to be a massive weather event.
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Financial Goals in 2025
Number 2 hits close to home. In the last couple of years we’ve done exterior painting, remodeled two bathrooms, kitchen, windows, upgraded the sprinkler system, and a new roof but insurance paid most of that. Part of this is because we deferred a lot of projects when I wasn’t making as much and now we can afford them. We need to paint the interior of the house then probably be done. It will be great to throw all that extra money in the market.
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Realignment talk not going away
Build the damn statue.
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Financial Goals in 2025
Still just chugging along dollar cost averaging 2-3k into index funds once a month. Commission season starts in about a month so that will be fun.
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Las Vegas go hard or go home thread
I’m not that concerned about it because my company is paying and I’ll probably use the gym. Just saying a $56/night fee for a pool that closes at 5 pm is shitty. Google AI is saying that’s standard so I guess they can get away with it.
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Las Vegas go hard or go home thread
Going to answer my own question and post it in case there are other people looking for the same thing. Work travel has packed on the pounds so now I have to be careful. True food kitchen - Caesars Roku Sushi - Caesars The Halal Guys - Venetian Canyon Ranch - Venetian (lunch only) Does the pool really close at 5 pm each day? If so that is a huge kick in the dick considering the resort fees.
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Realignment talk not going away
As one of the resident Bobcats, I am excited about the move. Haven’t missed a home game in 11 years, which means I sat through a lot of 4 (or fewer) win seasons. Our leadership team, especially the president, has done a phenomenal job.
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Las Vegas go hard or go home thread
Been to Vegas a million time to party and gamble. Going M-F next week for work and staying at Caesar’s as that’s where the conference is. Not my first choice after staying there last year and feeling like the place needs a massive refresh. Anybody try to eat decently healthy while in Vegas? I usually don’t so recs in or near Caesar’s would be appreciated. I don’t want to send the company into bankruptcy with my expense report so value (relatively speaking) is also appreciated. Anybody done the pool there? Won’t be available until later in the day but hoping to snag a free chair and take a break from losing money in the later afternoons.
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The destruction of America's public education system
For me it’s similar to how former servers usually tip well at restaurants. When I was a teacher, I drove uber two days a week. That was Fridays after work and Sundays after lesson planning. It was hard to live in Austin on 55k and have any kind of financial goals. I don’t have kids but try to take care of the teachers I know now that I make more.
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Texas -- a failed state
People can disapprove all they want. Doesn’t make a shit until they vote differently…..and they won’t.
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Tuition payment strategies
We use Chase Sapphire Preferred which has a $95 fee but has been well worth it. The signup bonus plus our normal spending quickly got us 2 round trip tickets to Spain with only a little additional money from us. Using multiple cards and getting the bonus should be easy for one person as long as they are with different companies.
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Tuition payment strategies
You would probably be spending enough to take advantage of the big sign up bonus and minimum spend requirements on 2 or 3 cards.
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Texas -- a failed state
You could make most of those same arguments against the 10 commandments law but here we are….
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Financial Goals in 2025
I think the biggest hurdle is selling shares vs keeping your current shares and cashing in the dividends.
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Texas -- a failed state
I completely agree, but I don’t think that’s what we are going to get. Trump is going to stoke the flames with the military followed by pictures of cars/building burned by brown people. Trump thinks he can prove himself right on illegals being lawless thugs and some are going to play right into it. Wouldn’t surprise me if there are some right wing provocateurs mixed in to kick off the action. People with half a brain will know that these were mostly peaceful protests needlessly escalated by a power hungry orange menace. But the other 75% of our idiocracy will just see dirty minorities burning stuff and fighting cops. The African Americans of the civil rights movement gave us a blueprint but we rarely follow it. Amazing how they were able to organize and stick to a plan even without the ability to communicate online.
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Texas -- a failed state
I’m all for people waving the Mexican flag if that is their home country or their heritage. Hell, maybe it’s not and you just want to show support for people that are being caught up in all this BS. But realize the optics are going to be bad. The American idiocy needs simple messaging with as little nuance as possible. It’s confusing when people that don’t want to be departed to Mexico are waving Mexican flags in the face of cops. You become a much more sympathetic figure if you’re waving an American flag signaling that you are hoping for a better life here. We all know that the tatted up guy waving a Mexican flag in the face of a cop is going to play right into the disinformation playbook of the right. On a completely separate note, where was this energy during the election? The left love to squabble over minor policy differences while a wannabe dictator gets elected. Then they fill the streets all pissed off. Win. Elections.