I work in that field, and I can tell you some things. The worst about all those brand-new counter tops and appliances (not to mention sanitaryware, brassware, lighting, electronic reticulation, and, most tragically, hand-made joinery) is that the first thing a buyer in that market does is rip out the whole lot and have others installed. There's a certain stratum in which virtually half of that stuff is installed only for the few months while the house is on the market. Then architects and interior designers with more concern for their own sophisticated image than for any notion of shelter or community living environment are appointed. I don't know what happens to the stuff, though. The appliances doubtless go straight back to the suppliers to be resold as new, but things like granite counter tops are cut to size and, even if portions can be re-used, there is still a lot of wastage.
Of course the granite is specced from a photograph in a catalogue. It is treated like a manufactured product of which the factory can always make more. Design professionals are shocked to realise that a specific piece of granite is the way it is because it was sitting in a specific place in the earth, and it isn't there any more. There's nothing wrong with using granite as long as one realises that every piece is unique and irreplaceable, and correspondingly design for durability. One can do a philosophical study about the concept of type in current world culture. In a sense we have our own 'universals question' just like in the middle ages, and our own 'superrealists' or extreme Platonists who regard counter tops as mere half-real emanations of the fully real catalogue photo. (And the implications for type approval of motor vehicles is another whole can of worms.) I have a constant battle with those who want not socio-functionally-disposed shelter but viewing platforms. It is a problem in a city that has views, especially where the best (i.e. monetarily most valuable) views are to the west and require buildings to be powerfully air-conditioned to keep them from turning into saunas from noon onwards even in mid-winter. When I bought my spot I was specifically not looking for a view of the sea or of the mountain: all I want a view of is the street outside. Sea and mountain views do the soul good, but why not from public places? The older cities that have views, e.g. Rome, have their best views from public places. There the views are not bought and sold. One need only step into the street - or climb a hill or whatever - to have them. A view of the street does more good. It affords informal surveillance for a very democratic way of deterring crime, and it adds interest to keep pedestrians stimulated and keep them from wishing they'd taken the car instead. On the other hand, the advantage of working for the rich is that the rich very often define the aspirations of everyone else, so giving the rich something that works socially will encourage those who don't give a damn to aspire to something that works socially. It is by no means unprecedented. The minor palazzi of Renaissance Italy are the obvious example of housing for rich people who walk on the street, but the pattern was well established even then. Up until WWII the large, freehold, single townhouse was quite a normal sort of luxury house. But it is a problem, though by no means insoluble, to figure out a way to accommodate a greater, possibly exurban, food-growing population than cities have now without encouraging an invasion of the countryside by exurban commuters. I've always thought in terms of removing that tricky suburban-sprawl range of density from the density spectrum, so it jumps directly from small farms to Mediterranean-village densities. I think more cleverness might be called for. Any ideas? -Dawie ----- Original Message ---- From: Chip Mefford <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: biofuel@sustainablelists.org Sent: Friday, 15 June, 2007 5:32:02 PM Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Fuel-sipping trains Zeke Yewdall wrote: > Ah, but I think you may be including a non-monetary benefit... > remember, for renewable energy or energy efficiency stuff, you can > only include the strict monetary benefits when calculating payback. Nope, I'm talking property flipping. The sad but incontrovertible truth is, the larger the house, the greater the increase in resale value. Tracking housing costs since the building boom began in the early 50s, houses of 10,000 sf, (yes, that's correct, ten thousand square feet) have shown the highest rate of return in investment over time. 5,000 less so, but still quite solid, 2,500 are decent investments, and 1,200 or less are only valuable for their lots. Fact. ugly but true. Boutique appliances, countertops and trophy stoves (that will never be used) are pretty much a requirement for flipping the property. This is why the cheaper interest rates are available for these purchases, because that money yields the highest return over similar type goods. This trend has been solid, with only a few hiccups for nigh on 60 years, and there is nothing to indicate there will a change anytime soon. Wonder why all this farm land in the Mid Atlantic region of the US (some of the best and most fertile farm land in the world) is all being converted to tract mansions? Because that is the sweet spot for investment. 5k+ sq ft houses garner the lowest interest rates and have the highest resale. No farm can compete with that, in this 'free market' economy. (I'd like to actually see a genuine free market economy someday, I keep hearing about it). I work in Loundon County Va, USA. Loundon Co is *the* textbook example of the worst land managment planning there is. Even the the union of concerned scientists used Loundon Co as their only negative example in the publication The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices. Be that as it may, it's nearly impossible to loose money in this real estate market. Unless, you try to protect and preserve what little arable land is left. Mike Weaver lives in this region, and the neighbors of whom he speaks are everywhere. You'd have to see it. -- _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ ___________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Mail is the world's favourite email. 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