Autumn is here and the leaves have fallen off the trees. Gone are the yellow and green leaves. The strikingly red ones are only a distant childhood memory. And yet, it is one of my favorite times of the year.- - - - - -
As much as I hate switching to a cold weather wardrobe, I enjoy wearing certain garments which cisgender women tend to dislike - specifically hosiery. If one wants to wear a dress in the colder weather, one resorts to wearing tights. Yes, they are awkward to get on. But once they are on, things such as going to the loo isn't much different than when they are not on - one just pulls down/up 2 garments at a time.
I am writing this post on Halloween, and I will soon need to close my windows to keep the apartment warm enough to be comfortable. (My apartment tends to retain heat, so when the heating system is turned on for cold weather, I've had to occasionally open the windows - even in winter.) Once the heating system is on, I'll close the windows and be nice and toasty (if not a little too much) until spring comes.
On other matters....
Earlier this week, the abandoned apartment in my co-op complex was supposed to be auctioned off to the highest bidder (if there was one). This did not happen. Instead, the auction was postponed for a second time - no reason was given. In the past, I had to visit a house which was going to be auctioned off at a foreclosure sale, and know that most of the buyers tend not to be able to enter a residence as I did years ago. (Let's say that there was dubious legality in the access my friend had.) So, any person wanting to bid on this apartment would be taking a risk of dealing with the current state of the apartment.
I expect that with the state of our current economy, we are about to see a bubble burst and a lot of properties will be headed into foreclosure. Only risk takers with deep pockets will be able to afford to buy property, and many "little people" will be crushed - in part because they are under capitalized, or that they took on too much risk. Apartments like the one that the co-op is trying to sell will become more common, and many properties will become unaffordable.
Knowing the risk factors of my complex, I would hesitate to buy into my complex today. I know some of the questions that I should ask of a co-op board if I have to do so again, but hope I never have to do so. We've had a 30 year good run of decent co-op governance due to a baby boomer generation who would occasionally get involved and take on some of the tasks to keep a co-op running smoothly. But, as we got older, fewer young people want to get involved. This means that our co-op board is filled with retirees and not those young enough to think of our needs for the long term. So decisions naturally get made that benefit the short term needs of the retirees, and not necessarily what's best for the co-op in the long term.
In Florida, short term thinking of many co-op and condo boards have kicked many hard decisions down the road and made future leaders take the heat for decisions made in the past. Much needed maintenance was deferred, and at least one shore front condo complex collapsed due to rebar corrosion. As a result, Florida has tightened up its regulations, and the costs of deferred maintenance now coming due are upending the co-op/condo markets in that state. The problems in Florida have caused many businesses such as property insurance companies to become much much more conservative in the risks they take on.
Luckily, my co-op has been very conservative with property maintenance, and we have addressed things early enough to keep our expenses low. However, we have had problems, such as having to remediate issues with the aluminum wiring that was legal when our buildings were constructed. Yet, we have been affected by this shift by business to reduce their risks, as we have had to make an assessment to pay for a "forced insurance" policy imposed on us by our lending institution.
If a healthy business can get into trouble because of the irresponsibility of "unrelated others" far away from here, then I wonder what will happen to the economy as a whole due to the capricious policies of the orange snowflake. Will congress claw back its power and checkmate the orange snowflake? Or, will they capitulate to his insanity, and push America into the toilet? Given the history of America's real estate markets, it's anyone's guess, as no one has enough hard information to make a definitive case for anything. All I can say is that if someone's going to invest in US real estate, one had better have deep pockets to weather out any storm that comes along.
