snow white

Another year & the pendulum swung yet again to no longer owning any property to build a man cave on.  After the inflation of 2022, fixed costs rather than principal became the new limiting factors in owning anything.  Inflation had finally caught up with homeowners.  

Reviewing current prices in greater Gainesville, prime walkable locations,

Subject to change with 1 time never again inflation events, but $150/sq ft including the land can't be beat by any off grid man cave at $200/sq ft not including land.  The property tax at 2% is still horrendous.  It's not even beating rent anymore, let alone senior discounts.

A man cave music room with Steinway could still happen, but it would have to contribute a seriously high value to justify itself.  Lions would have a hard time draining their brokerage account on such an economic disadvantage.  It would have to be top 1% net worth suitable for burning.

 It seems the off grid guys are either all 50 miles from Wally, super rich, or working full time to pay for their fixed costs.  They have to be able bodied enough to live on their own so none are over 55.

Lions pondered the end of the 20 year span when the future was 99% accepted to be a giant man cave with sunsets visible from 1 end, sunrises visible from the other end & star filled skies at night.  For lion parents it was the end of a 25 year span knowing nothing besides living on 5 off grid acres, driving all their garbage down a long driveway, driving 6 miles for all their mail, not having any neighbors, seeing nothing but an empty field outside, thinking it was going to last forever.  

After 20 years, much less car dependence, much more need to exercise, growing fixed costs, lions pondered if off grid would still be superior to a walkable neighborhood.  Off grid was always more about being cheaper than functional.  Running through a walkable neighborhood, lions pondered how rich they were compared to the off gridders to have pedestrian access.  That reversed in the last 3 years.

Manetaining high levels of fitness off grid was going to be quite difficult.  The ultimate motivation is having to run to eat & not a home gym.  The off grid property would never have any pedestrian access.  The 20 year vision was really a vision of extravagant luxury. Sometimes lions pondered why they were working so hard for something they'd never really need.  An on grid house on less land could still be remodeled into a man cave.

https://growmane.blogspot.com/2023/06/most-striking-for-lions-was-how-foam.html

Notes on reliving the sound of the past.

A situation is only as good or bad as a lion brain says it is.  Think it's good & it's good.  Think it's bad & it's bad.  Most animals don't get it.

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The search began for future apartments. A lot of deals open up on after55.com & while many retirement ages are being raised, the age of housing assistance seems to be stable.  So the real minimum retirement age is 55.  

 As baby boomers die off, they're keeping their houses off the market but not their apartments.  The rental demand is not being replaced.

In Calif*, the over 55 housing tends to be in Orange county & Napa.

Circling back to Santa Barbara & browsing apartments, lions had been pondering how to live on the central coast for many years.  Sadly, the downtown is now dead & the idyllic shopping mall is being redeveloped.

 Old lion would be unlikely to return to being 18.  Revisiting it now, it does seem a bit more isolated & smaller than it was.  The plain is 14 miles end to end, the same distance as the Walnut run.  It was much vaster to a young lion who couldn't run a mile.  Jerome Lowenthal lived out his life, teaching there.

Something about Santa Barbara makes a lot of animals depressed there.  It's not particularly fogged in.  It might be under delivering & over promising.  It might be a lot of animals on their last dime.

Orange County & Napa would definitely be closer to civilization.  Helas, there's a high chance lions will die in the tri valley, as prophesied by the Skip oracle Mohatt.

Circling back to FL

That's a really nice location, walking distance from Wally, Targ, & clearwater beach, everything as it was at 24.  No covered parking but lions would rarely drive.  That could really be the way to go, if inflation holds.  Old lion could return to being 24.  The mane limitation is the lack of any flat bike path.

 

Trying to cross an inland waterway to reach a west coast beach was a common dream.  Sometimes, it was a desert.  Sometimes the 2 sides had highrises.  It might have been implanted by the 1st crossings in Clearwater.

 

There are other options right in Clearwater.  Helas, there is an income limit, usually 50% of median income.  It might be $40k in Tampon.  It's hard to believe they would require rent to be over 1/3 of income.

Quite difficult to justify anything besides FL when you're renting after 55.  No state income tax, easy access to beaches & still some reasonable housing.  Lions as renters wouldn't consider anything in the midwest.  CA would be difficult because of the income tax.

The years in Tampon are regarded as the lion kingdom's happiest, so it kind of makes sense to return there.  Part of the formula involved being lost, a few extremely dark times & the resulting bounce.  Whenever times got tough after 2000, lions pondered returning to that time.  Helas, that university area seems more expensive than areas closer to water.