AugustusFerdinand's recent activity

  1. Comment on Real estate agents are fleeing the field in ~finance

    AugustusFerdinand
    Link
    In response to the article's title: Good. A real estate agent, both seller's and buyer's, is ultimately a sales/marketing job. The buyer's agent side is nearly pointless with modern...

    In response to the article's title: Good.

    A real estate agent, both seller's and buyer's, is ultimately a sales/marketing job. The buyer's agent side is nearly pointless with modern tools/sites/searches. The only real "service" they provide is the fact that, as a buyer, you have to have one to just look at houses and see some behind-the-scenes details that should be public anyway, but are otherwise there to get their 2-3% commission for little-to-no work being done. Then there's an extra layer of the pyramid scheme that requires agents to also have to work for a brokerage on top of it.

    The U.S. has 2.5 to 3 million real estate agents — which is far more than any other country, relative to the size of its housing market. For example, the U.S. has about six times more home sales each year than the U.K. does, but 26 times more agents. Massive oversupply of agents and all this time they've been able to keep their commissions high by this anti-competitive BS.

    What is up in the air is how a buyer's agent is going to get paid after the new rules go into place. Right now the seller pays the buyer's agent, this is no longer going to be required, and with a lot of people buying houses with only the minimum of 3% down coming up with another 2-3% in cash to pay an agent is a big ask. It's also unknown at the moment if the buyer is going to be able to roll the agent's commission into the mortgage. Maybe it'll be the mortgage company that ends up setting the buyer's commission by having a max allowable.
    Of course, in a perfect world, we wouldn't need buyer's agents at all. Nearly every house I've looked at as a buyer had a bluetooth enabled lockbox to control access. Doesn't take much to put that unlock app in the hands of a buyer instead of an agent, or actually make the seller's agent earn their commission by being present for showings.

    5 votes

  2. Comment on YouTube seems to once again be rolling out its widely hated new web redesign in ~tech

    AugustusFerdinand
    Link Parent
    The screenshot in the article shows the video un-expanded. I only watch in "theater" mode so the video is as wide as the browser window. So now the description, instead of being beneath the video...

    The screenshot in the article shows the video un-expanded. I only watch in "theater" mode so the video is as wide as the browser window. So now the description, instead of being beneath the video and readable without scrolling, is entirely hidden and most of the time the title of the video is cut off as well.

    Was going to take a screenshot to show how it looks, but YT have reverted the redesign I was experiencing last week back to the old/current design for me at the moment.

    1 vote

  5. Comment on "twitter.com" is now officially dead in ~tech

    AugustusFerdinand
    Link Parent
    If he wants it called X then he'd drop all twitter trademarks and copyrights. Taking bets on that happening?

    If he wants it called X then he'd drop all twitter trademarks and copyrights. Taking bets on that happening?

    9 votes

  8. Comment on I am a witch. Well, a well witcher... in ~talk

  10. Comment on Mortgage companies could intensify the next recession, US officials warn in ~finance

    AugustusFerdinand
    Link Parent
    Issues: This only covers the taxpayer funded bailout and returns on it, not any of the knock-on effects of mass layoffs, retirement funds becoming trash, homelessness, etc. that were the ripples...

    Issues:

    1. This only covers the taxpayer funded bailout and returns on it, not any of the knock-on effects of mass layoffs, retirement funds becoming trash, homelessness, etc. that were the ripples of the 2008 crash that didn't get a bailout.
    2. The bailouts have a direct link to the massively overpriced housing market we are currently within. Adjusted for inflation, the median house price in the US hovers around $200k. Every time it has creeped too far above that, there's been a correction (that some would call a "crash") back to the norm. 2008's bailouts stopped this correction and has led to the disgustingly overpriced market we have now that is well above pre-2008's idiotically inflated prices.
    3. The bailouts may have provided some semblance of economic stability in a couple of key areas, but it wasn't as far reaching as it could/should be and ultimately resulted in very specific areas being rewarded for their bad actions instead of punished.
    5 votes

  11. Comment on Inside the surreal world of $20,000 pet portraits (gifted link) in ~life.pets

    AugustusFerdinand
    Link Parent
    There's also a subset of people that associate price with value and simply won't bother with something cheaper even if it is better, especially when it comes to art/handmade items. An example of...

    There's also a subset of people that associate price with value and simply won't bother with something cheaper even if it is better, especially when it comes to art/handmade items.
    An example of this is within one of my hobbies: blacksmithing
    There is an upcoming high end art show/festival that my local blacksmithing group has been invited to attend. Most exhibitors at these shows, this one included, have to pay to attend. This show in particular requires the exhibitors to be invited to attend and then pay for the privilege.
    We are being paid to be there, sell our wares, and we're not even demonstrating (actually making anything on-site).
    The first year this happened, items were priced as they usually are for us at one of these shows, that is to say very reasonably and rarely at an actual profit (most of the time we're just trying to continue to fund the hobby, not make a business out of it). The first year, nearly nothing sold.
    One of the other exhibitors came by on the last day and made a comment along the lines of "This kind of crowd won't pay that kind of money, if you're coming back next year, triple your prices."

    Next year comes around, again invited and paid to attend, follow advice (it had been validated a bit by asking around to other exhibitors at similar events); same items offered, what is usually $30-50 at a "normal" art show/festival, for what amounts to trinkets for a blacksmith to make, is priced at $150.
    Everything sold out.

    16 votes

  13. Comment on A rare burst of billions of cicadas will rewire our ecosystems for years to come. The arrival of Brood XIX and Brood XIII will send shockwaves through forest food webs. in ~enviro

    AugustusFerdinand
    Link Parent
    I believe you, stranger things have happened, just honestly couldn't tell if you were joking or it really is a thing.

    I believe you, stranger things have happened, just honestly couldn't tell if you were joking or it really is a thing.

  14. Comment on Behold, the $400 red pineapple in ~food

    AugustusFerdinand
    Link Parent
    I wonder if they're attempting to prevent this by not including the crown... It's quite easy, if time consuming, to grow a new pineapple from an old pineapple's crown.

    I wonder if they're attempting to prevent this by not including the crown... It's quite easy, if time consuming, to grow a new pineapple from an old pineapple's crown.

    10 votes

  15. Comment on Fear the Mad Catz - The worst video game controllers ever in ~games

    AugustusFerdinand
    Link
    A shorter (10 minute) TL;DW video from LGR 6 years ago if anyone here doesn't want to dedicate over an hour to this video or find Rerez's personality unappealing. LGR's video focuses on the...

    A shorter (10 minute) TL;DW video from LGR 6 years ago if anyone here doesn't want to dedicate over an hour to this video or find Rerez's personality unappealing. LGR's video focuses on the company and not the individual products that this video does.

    17 votes

  16. Comment on A rare burst of billions of cicadas will rewire our ecosystems for years to come. The arrival of Brood XIX and Brood XIII will send shockwaves through forest food webs. in ~enviro

    AugustusFerdinand
    Link Parent
    I can't tell if you're serious or not as the video in the link specifically mentions, multiple times, that there are no cicadas on the pizza.

    My city really embraced these bugs. We had shirts and I believe you even used to be able to order a pizza with them on it. First bug I ever ate was one of these bad boys deep fried and covered in Grippos seasoning. Good times.

    I can't tell if you're serious or not as the video in the link specifically mentions, multiple times, that there are no cicadas on the pizza.

    3 votes

  17. Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of May 6 in ~news

  18. Comment on The Devil went down to Georgia in ~lgbt

    AugustusFerdinand
    Link

    For years, a mysterious figure preyed on gay men in Atlanta. People on the streets called him the Handcuff Man—but the police knew his real name.

    5 votes

  20. Comment on The Day Iceland Stood Still | Trailer in ~life.women