Geezleweez - absolutely can't remember to look at the bus number. And to think I once considered a series of charts and graphs with bus number info - ha!Ridership has slipped to the poverty level. Wondering why I didn't take vacation days this week - it appears everyone else did. NG and BG are conspicuously absent - bright boys. Bad news for the guess-the-jacket game - the coat guy told Dave that tomorrow is his last day on our bus. Seems his apartment was purchased and is going condo so he has to buy or move and he's moving. Probably can't buy as his money is all tied up in coats. Kidding, I'm really just kidding.
There's a lot of this apartment-go-condo happening and it really sucks for people who can't afford to buy. The real estate market went ballistic and now most people can't afford to sell and buy back the house they currently own. People get excited because their property value is up, but they seem to forget that if they sell their house and make the big profit, they have to go buy something equally inflated in value from someone who also wants a big profit - good luck with that! How on earth did I go from bus blog to real estate whining? Apologies.
4 comments:
"His apartment was purchased and is going condo"...for the benefit of us brits, does that mean he's been living in rented accomodation, someone's bought up the freehold and is selling off the apartments on a leasehold basis? Sorry...I'm not doing the "two nations separated by a single tongue" and all that stuff, but have always been confused by this "condo" thing...
You sure you can't get a quick grab of his (eco-unfriendly) jacket before he goes? Hey you could always offer him a "man with no name" poncho made to one of your quiting designs in exchange for the jacket with your favourite team - then we'd know for sure...
Ouch - I'm lost with the freehold and leasehold, so will attempt to describe in general terms. He was living in a rented accomodation. The building in which his apartment (flat?) is located was purchased by a developer who will do some minor (and usually cheezy) remodeling on all the units then sell them to individuals. Each unit will become real property, owned by an individual, although all units are part of an "association" which collects money from each unit owner to pay for upkeep of common areas (parking lots, driveways, green space, etc.) It's a simplistic description but gets the job done, I hope. It sounds a bit like what you described, where the leaseholder is equal to the condo association maybe?
As for testing the jacket, I might just have to ask the guy to let me touch his arm. Hate to be so openly tactile, but I'll never know for sure if I don't get my tips on the product. I like the jacket exchange idea - I have a great t-shirt I turned into a jacket, it was vat dyed, embroidered and lined with quilting. One of my favorite art projects and I bet he'd make the trade in a heartbeat. Let's see if we can link to a photo of it: see my t-shirt
OK - I think I had most of the idea
- except traditionally over here when a building divided into apartments ("flats") was sold on to individuals they usually (not always) bought what is called a leasehold (often between 99 and 999 years worth of ownership) ...
There remained the developer (Freeholder) who was still responsible for all the external building repairs plus decoration to communal areas, but who could charge "ground rent" and "maintenance charges" to recoup these costs. After the expiry of the "Leasehold", the property reverted to the "Freeholder"
It was regarded as "iffy" (particularly in terms of getting a mortgage) to buy the freehold of an apartment as you could be adjudged responsible for not only your own share of the maintenance for the building, but also for that of any leaseholders too....
Lately though there have been increases in the rights of leaseholders (mainly in terms of being preferred bidders either separately, individually or communally), for the freehold, should it come up for sale, but also in terms of what happens if one leasehold becomes a freehold, whilst others don't - bit like your condo associations - much fairer and more sensible really...
Now this t-shirt...absolutely amazing...he should take the swap - As a bonus vat dying should be more than good (VAT 69 used to be a Scotch Whisky brand over here!)
Freeholding sounds like eating your cake and having it, too? Suppose there are pros and cons to each of these scenarios.
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