tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19817003014621639762024-03-18T20:12:41.923-04:00A Layman's BlogA view of life and commercial real estate from Newark and Licking County, OhioSteve Laymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595258281958953869noreply@blogger.comBlogger21700125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981700301462163976.post-17531699938896708612024-03-18T00:36:00.001-04:002024-03-18T00:36:00.124-04:00ruthless..........................<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBbajoiX-xqYwSSGArCXJaSr5UKDajppT0oUaR-uf_4eJPosnm5LIfCnVla9A5XYsVU2V6VSU5166UKqasS0UuhwkgeL-NsZBBqGpxXAjd7t9nyNlo65XSE9jDfd1AblMWUg9W5JQG1JY9fA1WoADCc-_HuDfqmqw8S70RUI6DPrXqOFkJciJUDsryKN8/s600/hugh%20%20ruthless.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="317" data-original-width="600" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBbajoiX-xqYwSSGArCXJaSr5UKDajppT0oUaR-uf_4eJPosnm5LIfCnVla9A5XYsVU2V6VSU5166UKqasS0UuhwkgeL-NsZBBqGpxXAjd7t9nyNlo65XSE9jDfd1AblMWUg9W5JQG1JY9fA1WoADCc-_HuDfqmqw8S70RUI6DPrXqOFkJciJUDsryKN8/w373-h197/hugh%20%20ruthless.JPG" width="373" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="color: red; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.gapingvoid.com/a-gruesome-paradox/">-<span style="color: red;">from this</span> <span style="color: red;">Gaping Void post</span></a></span></p>Steve Laymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595258281958953869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981700301462163976.post-78046884723485499442024-03-18T00:35:00.003-04:002024-03-18T00:35:00.138-04:00radical.........................<p><br /></p><p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxlnpjSpg-4yk5bGkLu8kxh_hD0XaoffyLzpsDmfUyX7bO4xKxRjfuqpI_1u9lSO96aj6bNic0Ve1xBQx1k6gfD6X8Mm7U9-sIpOndz7uBqpSntCbPR1lNBvdnDgaWNSvcaXgW7vDKpewDZKdxJbDaB2o2LF4WjFyyEzQa10K7f5IjyVMs0I1pV_qJJjM/s436/art%20%20raft.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="302" data-original-width="436" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxlnpjSpg-4yk5bGkLu8kxh_hD0XaoffyLzpsDmfUyX7bO4xKxRjfuqpI_1u9lSO96aj6bNic0Ve1xBQx1k6gfD6X8Mm7U9-sIpOndz7uBqpSntCbPR1lNBvdnDgaWNSvcaXgW7vDKpewDZKdxJbDaB2o2LF4WjFyyEzQa10K7f5IjyVMs0I1pV_qJJjM/w406-h282/art%20%20raft.JPG" width="406" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; text-align: start;">Théodore Géricault, </span><em style="background-color: white; border: 0px solid rgb(34, 35, 34); box-sizing: border-box; color: #757575; text-align: start;">Raft of the Medusa</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; text-align: start;">, 1818–19, oil </span></span></td></tr></tbody></table> <a href="https://smarthistory.org/theodore-gericault-raft-of-the-medusa/"><span style="color: red;">back story here</span></a></p>Steve Laymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595258281958953869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981700301462163976.post-1222419156210779262024-03-18T00:30:00.001-04:002024-03-18T00:30:00.142-04:00Fifty years ago...............................<div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">
Mountain..................................<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_Peaks_(album)"><span style="color: red;">Twin Peaks</span></a></span><div><br /><div>
<iframe frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://youtube.com/embed/HtcRi_XVpsU?si=8_riV_LSY4crVbUT" width="480"></iframe></div></div>Steve Laymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595258281958953869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981700301462163976.post-53513881540135956152024-03-18T00:27:00.002-04:002024-03-18T00:27:00.123-04:00A discourse on the meek..........................<p> </p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">...................................and <a href="https://austinkleon.com/2024/03/17/the-meek-inherit-the-earth/"><span style="color: red;">their inheritance</span></a>.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>Steve Laymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595258281958953869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981700301462163976.post-61426491614439289072024-03-18T00:25:00.001-04:002024-03-18T00:25:00.133-04:00Classic......................<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> ................................<a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-quotable-hitchens-windsor-mann/1131303735?ean=9780306819582"><span style="color: red;">Christopher Hitchens</span></a>:</span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>Tell me which decade you love, or hate, and I'll tell you who and what you are.<br /></i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>-1990</i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>I must say that I've always found the generational emphasis on the way that my youth was covered to be very annoying. There were a lot of other people born in April, 1949, and I just don't feel like I have anything in common with most of them.<br /></i></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>-2001</i></span></div>Steve Laymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595258281958953869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981700301462163976.post-53044579390316268862024-03-18T00:20:00.002-04:002024-03-18T00:20:00.134-04:00Of complexities..............<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> <i>Of the complexities introduced by the "present vast and delicate division of labor," he wrote, "When everybody is working for everybody, everybody is injured by the mischances of everybody."</i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>-</i>James Grant, <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bagehot-james-grant/1129598851?ean=9780393358285"><span style="color: red;">Bagehot: The Life and Times of the Greatest Victorian</span></a></span></p>Steve Laymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595258281958953869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981700301462163976.post-2243736821374339232024-03-18T00:17:00.001-04:002024-03-18T00:17:00.150-04:00seeds.........................<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i> <span style="background-color: white; color: #262626;">Whether our cosmic helplessness paralyzes or mobilizes us depends largely on how we orient to freedom and what we make of agency. “The smallest act in the most limited circumstances,” </span><a href="https://www.themarginalian.org/tag/hannah-arendt/" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(225, 155, 155); border-bottom-style: solid; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #c33737; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Hannah Arendt</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626;"> wrote in </span><a href="https://www.themarginalian.org/2017/05/17/hannah-arendt-human-condition-speech-action/" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(225, 155, 155); border-bottom-style: solid; border-image: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-top-style: initial; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #c33737; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Human Condition</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: #262626;">, “bears the seed of… boundlessness, because one deed, and sometimes one word, suffices to change every constellation.”</span></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #262626;">-Maria Popova, </span><a href="https://www.themarginalian.org/2024/03/15/we-are-free-to-change-the-world-hannah-arendt/"><span style="color: red;">from here</span></a></span></span></p>Steve Laymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595258281958953869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981700301462163976.post-44564109281195392832024-03-18T00:15:00.004-04:002024-03-18T00:15:00.120-04:00a summary......................<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"> <i>It is difficult to improve on the summary of the chronicler who delivered up Adam's first years in a single storm cloud of a sentence: "He read theology and abandoned the ministry, read law and abandoned the bar, entered business and lost a thousand pounds."</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>-</i>Stacy Schiff, <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-revolutionary-stacy-schiff/1141047383?ean=9780316441094"><span style="color: red;">The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams</span></a></span></p><p><br /></p>Steve Laymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595258281958953869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981700301462163976.post-87356491140291023612024-03-18T00:10:00.006-04:002024-03-18T00:10:00.149-04:00A love of reading often begins at home....<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i> Although filling our homes with books might be a start, psychologists find that it's not enough. If we want our kids to enjoy reading, we need to make books part of their lives. That involves talking about books during meals and car rides, visiting libraries or bookstores, giving books as gifts, and letting them see us read. <b>Children pay attention to our attention: where we focus tells them what we prize.</b></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><b style="font-style: italic;">-</b>Adam Grant, <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hidden-potential-adam-grant/1143501865?ean=9780593653142"><span style="color: red;">Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things</span></a></span></p><p><br /></p>Steve Laymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595258281958953869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981700301462163976.post-78179879056156191552024-03-18T00:07:00.004-04:002024-03-18T00:07:00.420-04:00Ownership.........................<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; text-align: justify;">It is odd. A large majority of my neighbours now belong to shiny gadgets.</span></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><i style="color: #333333;">-</i><span style="color: #333333;">David Warren, </span><a href="https://www.davidwarrenonline.com/2024/03/15/prisoners-enchained/"><span style="color: red;">from here</span></a></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>Steve Laymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595258281958953869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981700301462163976.post-85322316436438804362024-03-18T00:05:00.003-04:002024-03-18T00:05:00.130-04:00If.............................<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>If we held to God by the mediation of a living faith, if we held to God through him and not through ourselves, if we had a divine foothold and foundation, human accidents would not have the power to shake us as they do.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>-</i>Michel de Montaigne, from An Apology to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_of_Sabunde"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Raymond Sebond</span></a>, also known as Chapter 12, Book 2 of his <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-complete-works-of-michel-de-montaigne-michel-de-montaigne/1141112367?ean=9781400040216"><span style="color: red;">Complete Works</span></a></span></p><p><br /></p>Steve Laymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595258281958953869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981700301462163976.post-22754856447895175422024-03-17T18:23:00.001-04:002024-03-17T18:23:00.123-04:00In the background......................<div><br /></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Graffiti"><span style="color: red;">American Graffiti</span></a>...........................The Soundtrack</span><div><br /></div><div>
<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/emUd3zP651M?si=jAFAghJf3-WlLH3V" width="480"></iframe></div>Steve Laymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595258281958953869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981700301462163976.post-60216370927767444732024-03-17T16:21:00.003-04:002024-03-17T16:21:28.480-04:00Opening paragraphs.................<p> <span style="font-size: medium;"><i> As someone who never really had one, maybe I am the least qualified person to defend the importance of family. But as someone with more education than I ever expected to receive, maybe I'm more qualified to say we give education more importance than we should. I am grateful for the miraculous trajectory of my life, but I had to experience upward mobility firsthand and reach the summit of education to understand its limitations. I've come to understand that a warm and loving family is worth infinitely more than the money or accomplishments I hoped might compensate for them.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Rob Henderson, from the Preface to his book, <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/troubled-rob-henderson/1143636599?ean=9781982168537"><span style="color: red;">Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class</span></a></span></p><p><br /></p>Steve Laymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595258281958953869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981700301462163976.post-48998808884467874382024-03-17T11:30:00.003-04:002024-03-17T11:30:39.986-04:00taxing the mega-rich...................<p><br /></p><p> <span style="font-size: medium;"><i>...................</i>to stop "<a href="https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/03/god-save-us-from-altruistic-billionaires.php"><span style="color: red;">transformational philanthropy</span></a>"?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: italic;">It doesn’t matter if you agree with Mr. Bankman-Fried about how to make the world better, whether you support his veganism, his global-warming alarmism or his priorities for spending his ill-gotten gains. </span><span style="background: 0px 0px rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #333333; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">History teaches us that the greatest crimes are committed by those who believe they are mankind’s benefactors</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: italic;">.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-style: italic;"><br /></span></span></p>Steve Laymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595258281958953869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981700301462163976.post-76342406380982409092024-03-17T11:21:00.006-04:002024-03-17T11:21:59.518-04:00Independent-mindedness...............<p> </p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">....................or, <a href="https://www.paulgraham.com/think.html"><span style="color: red;">how to think for yourself</span></a>:</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>The three components of independent-mindedness work in concert: fastidiousness about truth and resistance to being told what to think leave space in your brain, and curiosity finds new ideas to fill it.</i></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p>Steve Laymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595258281958953869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981700301462163976.post-39140053130247158072024-03-17T11:04:00.000-04:002024-03-17T11:04:12.009-04:00The federal Board of Tea Experts........<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333;">....................................</span><a href="https://reason.com/2024/03/17/after-a-century-the-federal-tea-board-is-finally-dead/"><span style="color: red;">who knew</span></a><span style="color: #333333;">?</span></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>It's a warning about the stickiness of bad ideas, about an inertia that can limit even the smallest attempts at trimming the state.</i></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://cafehayek.com/2024/03/some-links-2291.html">via</a></span></span></p>Steve Laymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595258281958953869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981700301462163976.post-28259624882559516202024-03-17T10:26:00.005-04:002024-03-17T10:26:42.852-04:00Aging like a fine wine.............<p><br /></p><p> <span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">...............<a href="https://bakadesuyo.com/2024/01/brain-sharp-as-you-age/"><span style="color: red;">five ways to keep</span></a></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><a href="https://bakadesuyo.com/2024/01/brain-sharp-as-you-age/"><span style="color: red;"> your brain happy.</span></a></span></p><p><br /></p>Steve Laymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595258281958953869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981700301462163976.post-54815675807565948352024-03-17T10:06:00.002-04:002024-03-17T10:06:21.026-04:00If you could..........................<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">...................<a href="https://markmanson.net/40-lessons-at-40"><span style="color: red;">advise your younger self</span></a>.</span> (or your older self for that matter)</p><p><br /></p>Steve Laymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595258281958953869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981700301462163976.post-13866992008767919912024-03-16T09:44:00.000-04:002024-03-16T09:44:57.726-04:00effects.........................<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>I have sought God in the meanings that have inspired people to live in such a way that their lives seem to point to something larger than themselves . . . It can be an affirmation, someone who gives you the confidence to be yourself. It can be forgiveness, a way of saying, yes, you know and I know that it was wrong, but that was yesterday, and you have work to do today, and perhaps tomorrow will bring the chance to heal what you harmed.</i></span></p><p> <span style="font-size: medium;"><i>People with the Abrahamic monotheisms have always known that for most of us, most of the time, God, more infinite that the universe, older and younger than time, cannot be known directly. He is known mainly through his effects, and of these the most important is his effect on human lives.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>-</i>Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-great-partnership-jonathan-sacks/1111508264?ean=9780805212501"><span style="color: red;">The Great Partnership: Science, Religion, and the Search for Meaning</span></a></span></p>Steve Laymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595258281958953869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981700301462163976.post-10435880973646146912024-03-16T09:11:00.000-04:002024-03-16T09:11:19.007-04:00ground rules.................<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i> <span style="background-color: white;">Here's a rule of life: you have to be there. You have to listen and laugh and argue and comfort the people around you in a multitude of exchanges where life's mystery means you may not know just which exchange was the most important.</span></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>-</i><a href="http://www.execupundit.com/2024/03/the-danger-of-sovereign-individual.html"><span style="color: red;">Michael Wade</span></a></span></span></p>Steve Laymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595258281958953869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981700301462163976.post-34378273100833312632024-03-15T20:11:00.002-04:002024-03-15T20:11:42.131-04:00Fifty years ago...............<div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronnie_Wood"><span style="color: red;">Ron Wood</span></a>.......I've Got My Own Album To Do album</span><div><br /></div><div>
<iframe frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://youtube.com/embed/908r8Zayc6Y?si=c3reFMxYKRPRKApm" width="480"></iframe></div>Steve Laymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595258281958953869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981700301462163976.post-29587844213165727072024-03-15T16:33:00.002-04:002024-03-15T16:33:39.704-04:00Been in the..........................<p><span style="font-size: medium;">................real estate brokerage business for a long time. I'm not sure they've thought this through:</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.4px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>The 6% commission, a standard in home purchase transactions, is no more. . . .</i></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.4px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>Although it’s unclear what the future of the housing market will look like, Miller said he expected homebuying to pick up somewhat as costs fall dramatically for homebuyers.</i></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.4px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/15/economy/nar-realtor-commissions-settlement/index.html"><span style="color: red;">Back story here</span></a>.</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.4px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Most pundits seemed to think that low interest rates helped the buyers. Strikes us that low interest rates actually helped the sellers. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.4px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Most buyers around here seem to think mostly in terms of their monthly mortgage payment. A monthly payment of $2,000 will amortize a $360,000 mortgage at 3% interest over twenty years. At 6% interest, that payment will only support a mortgage $280,000.</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.4px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">In a hot and competitive real estate market, which much of the country has experienced lately (mostly because of a shortage of supply of housing), who do you think reaps the reward of the extra $80,000 available mortgage financing that 3% interest provided? Why do you think housing prices got so high so quickly? You are kidding yourself if you don't think that part of the housing "affordability" problem was caused by ten years of 3% mortgage money. When it comes to real estate, low interest rates are inflationary, and that favors sellers.</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.4px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">A similar thing will likely happen with the real estate commission issue. If commissions fall, in a hot and competitive market, the buyer will not be seeing the benefit. It will likely go to the seller. All other things being equal, the buyer working with a broker who will work for a reduced fee, can now afford to offer more. If the supply problem ever gets fixed and a "buyers' market" emerges, then it might be different. In the meanwhile, two people can't save the same reduction in fees. (This assumes there will actually be a reduction in fees). It will benefit either the buyer or the seller. In a "sellers market," bet on the seller.</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; letter-spacing: 0.4px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Time will tell, but my bet is that pundits thinking changing the long-established commission structure will help buyers, in what is still a "sellers' market," are fooling themselves - and the public.</span></span></p>Steve Laymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595258281958953869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981700301462163976.post-78953920519669791012024-03-15T15:34:00.000-04:002024-03-15T15:34:08.302-04:00Prickly..........................<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKHEgL2zAFAABwdbwkgYhMP0Tp5QgWoQNSgh45q8Lq8WGQy2U_KLtQ-5-FtBRfj-aMOtXWoRAdwdXIBLeqVfzlc5Oj96FZChnZ4_Qbcqaagsd0yHrg81SaaJAmMT5VoCde4CJr0F-MlZVOPAR0ysgyyRkL4OkhmRd4uA-DmsqmCd451xsBPxOYDedH3xY/s999/cactus.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="606" data-original-width="999" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKHEgL2zAFAABwdbwkgYhMP0Tp5QgWoQNSgh45q8Lq8WGQy2U_KLtQ-5-FtBRfj-aMOtXWoRAdwdXIBLeqVfzlc5Oj96FZChnZ4_Qbcqaagsd0yHrg81SaaJAmMT5VoCde4CJr0F-MlZVOPAR0ysgyyRkL4OkhmRd4uA-DmsqmCd451xsBPxOYDedH3xY/w375-h227/cactus.JPG" width="375" /></a></div><br /><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>When in doubt<br />let nature be your guide.</i></span></div><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>Specifically, cactuses</i></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>Be still.<br />Stay hydrated.<br />Shelter owls.<br />Stab your predators.</i></span></div><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>It's that easy.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i>-</i><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/love-notes-from-the-hollow-tree-jarod-anderson/1141716728?ean=9798826128046"><span style="color: red;">Jarod K. Anderson</span></a></span></p><p><a href="https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=111816&picture=&jazyk=JP">image via</a></p>Steve Laymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595258281958953869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981700301462163976.post-46485416473570334032024-03-15T15:07:00.003-04:002024-03-15T15:07:46.507-04:00The game.........................<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i> <span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">The “game” may be hockey or public policy; the insight is the same. Unintended consequences may reduce, or even eliminate, the good you expect to result from a policy change. People aren’t chess pieces.</span></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i style="color: #181818;">-</i><span style="color: #181818;">Michael Munger, </span><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52532704-is-capitalism-sustainable"><span style="color: red;">Is Capitalism Sustainable</span></a>?</span></span></p>Steve Laymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595258281958953869noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1981700301462163976.post-13752333407962237802024-03-15T14:50:00.000-04:002024-03-15T15:09:35.341-04:00the chess-board.................<p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><i> <span style="background-color: white; color: #181818;">The man of system, on the contrary, is apt to be very wise in his own conceit; and is often so enamoured with the supposed beauty of his own ideal plan of government, that he cannot suffer the smallest deviation from any part of it. He goes on to establish it completely and in all its parts, without any regard either to the great interests, or the strong prejudices which may oppose it. <b>He seems to imagine that he can arrange the different members of a great society with as much ease as the hand arranges the different pieces upon a chess-board. He does not consider that the pieces upon the chess-board have no other principle of motion besides that which the hand impresses upon them; but that, in the great chess-board of human society, every single piece has a principle of motion of its own, altogether different from that which the legislature might chuse to impress upon it.</b> If those two principles coincide and act in the same direction, the game of human society will go on easily and harmoniously, and is very likely to be happy and successful. If they are opposite or different, the game will go on miserably, and the society must be at all times in the highest degree of disorder.</span></i></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #181818;">-Adam Smith, </span><a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-theory-of-moral-sentiments-adam-smith/1100059731?ean=9780865970120"><span style="color: red;">The Theory of Moral Sentiments</span></a></span></span></p>Steve Laymanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08595258281958953869noreply@blogger.com0