1.25-3% property tax means you are just renting it from the government.So why is ownership of a home a illusion ?
1.25-3% property tax means you are just renting it from the government.So why is ownership of a home a illusion ?
You just don't have much asset to be sued for and that's why you can get away with minimal insurance (liability, not the car).
Yet another assumption. The record of today's mass-produced cars being expensive nightmares to repair when they develop electrical and computer problems out of warranty suggests otherwise. (Also a Prius is not "cheap" and repairs can be VERY expensive, exceeding the value of the car, when they get old and things like the onboard generator start failing.)Those expensive electronics is because of people buying a car from a startup company. One day Toyota would make it and one day they will be cheap like a Prius today.
Good for you. Imagine that "not really all that expensive" part is reduced by 1/2. Say your $350 a year liability only half a million dollar insurance (I'm using mine as a reference at 1M, yours hopefully would be as cheap as mine) reduce to $175 a year, that 20 year worth of insurance cost saving from 175 x 20 = $3500, is going to pay for a lot of careless driving mistake claims that could pay for a lot of electronics. Even if your electronics is $1000 it is still only 1/3 of that savings.You're making another assumption. I carry a half million dollars in liability insurance because I do have assets. That amount of insurance is well above the legal minimum and it is not really all that expensive. (Insurance can be costly of course if you have a poor driving record or are a very young driver.) Just because a person is not willing to shell out for a new or late model car loaded with questionable technology and whose value is going to plummet the instant it's driven off the lot doesn't mean they are not spending money on other things.
Which mass market cars other than Tesla and those fancy "German Engineering" has this problem on their electrical and computer on powertrain? Don't throw Mercedes and Lexus or those fancy features no one need, that cost thousands of dollars to repair?Yet another assumption. The record of today's mass-produced cars being expensive nightmares to repair when they develop electrical and computer problems out of warranty suggests otherwise. (Also a Prius is not "cheap" and repairs can be VERY expensive, exceeding the value of the car, when they get old and things like the onboard generator start failing.)
Yeah true , the value goes up so does taxes . Death and taxes , hard to hide from either but owning is a good thing1.25-3% property tax means you are just renting it from the government.
Eventually they would operate like railroad, most high speed rail (the real one, in Europe and Japan) operates with systems that space them enough to avoid collision even at very high speed (250km/hr and more). Sure early design bugs do exist like the one in China, but in the long run it should get into way fewer accidents than human.Perhaps people are judging self driving vehicles based on today's technology? I don't.
There needs to be far better hardware and algorithms.
And, most of all, many billions of miles and years of real world data.
Tesla is doing this today; AP data is sent back to a database.
We are not even close. Tomorrow is a different story.
Imagine real time traffic conditions, interconnected cars and cars operating based on programming rules.
Removing human error...
What is the difference between:Yeah true , the value goes up so does taxes . Death and taxes , hard to hide from either but owning is a good thing
What is the difference between:
1) Government sell you a lease for the land for 100 years, you pay no property tax for that 100 years, but you pay for the lease up front in one payment (you can ask a bank to finance it). You can sell the right to the lease to another party and it is your profit or loss to keep.
2) Government charge you 1% property tax on your market value and sell it to you permanently, but if you don't pay your tax they will take the property back.
3) You pay annual rent to the landlord with a locked in 100 year lease, you can still transfer the lease to someone else, but you pay no property tax and you can do whatever you want within that 100 years.
1) and 3) guarantee the cost for 100 years, 2) does not as it goes up with market rate. 1) and 3) is called leasing but 2) is called "owning". Technically 1) is considered owning in some Asian nations too but we all know it really depends on how you look at it.
So is owning really real ?
I tell my mom and others that seem to hate the idea of renting that you really never totally own a home. Even once paid for there will be taxes, typical preventive maintenance/upkeep that can be quite costly. Then if for some reason you want to move that can be a waiting game for it to sell, etc. I'm all for renting these days after having a few homes previously. Funny thing I'm the total opposite with vehicles. I like to find one I really appreciate, pay it off and keep indefinitely even though there will always be taxes, maintenance, etc. Never have liked the idea of leasing any vehicle for my use. To each their own!So why is ownership of a home a illusion ?
The only reason to own a home vs other assets is the leverage you can use against inflation. It is a way to time the market (buy when interest is high and then refinance when the interest is low) and walk away in a default with no way for creditor to chase after you (in the US). Another reason to buy instead of rent is if the home you want is never on sale and you want to "do cool things" to a home the way you want.I tell my mom and others that seem to hate the idea of renting that you really never totally own a home. Even once paid for there will be taxes, typical preventive maintenance/upkeep that can be quite costly. Then if for some reason you want to move that can be a waiting game for it to sell, etc. I'm all for renting these days after having a few homes previously. Funny thing I'm the total opposite with vehicles. I like to find one I really appreciate, pay it off and keep indefinitely even though there will always be taxes, maintenance, etc. Never have liked the idea of leasing any vehicle for my use. To each their own!
All three of my example allow transfer, so I don't see why the profit (the amount you can transfer to new tenants for a profit vs the amount of capital gain you can get by selling) would be any reason.The profit is
You live there for opportunity costYou are either paying your mortgage or somebody else's.
I never thought I could own my own home. When I bought this one, I thought it was too much money and seemed to be such a risk.
The one thing I knew was, buying had a chance of a positive return from sale; renting guaranteed a big fat zero return.
Now this house is paid off, has solar panels and tankless water heater. I live here for peanuts.
I never think in short term plans.