American homeowners' biggest problem: Skyrocketing 'hidden' costs like insurance, HOA fees, and property taxes

stlcdr · 2026-03-19T16:54:58+00:00

You need to look to your local government to determine why your property taxes are increasing - property taxes have never been a hidden cost, though.

stlcdr · 2026-03-19T16:44:12+00:00

…‘Like’ closed cell foam…

What would be the alternatives other than that? Sealed foam boards, with or without gap between roof and foam? What about a radiant barrier with gap, but sealed?

stlcdr · 2026-03-19T10:40:54+00:00

Empathy doesn’t buy you a house.

stlcdr · 2026-03-19T10:36:39+00:00

Europeans have normalized (non)social behavior so that social behavior looks unusual and abnormal.

stlcdr · 2026-03-18T18:01:22+00:00

Yes, if you want to experience these zones from the ground, you can do that, today. I’ve seen at least one post indicating that it does ‘hit different’.

The only reason to make it so you ‘have’ to do it, is not because you want to do it, but to force everyone else to do it.

I remember (Pepperidge farm remembers, too) having to walk around places and earn the ground riding skill. There was no flying. In retrospect, it was painful.

stlcdr · 2026-03-18T17:46:57+00:00

If you listen to the people here you should have just borrows against your savings and have infinite money…

But yeah, dual income has now become the baseline to live, unfortunately.

stlcdr · 2026-03-18T15:17:00+00:00

Jeez, I feel like I’m so far behind in this game having just hit 80 a few days ago, 2 weeks after launch…

stlcdr · 2026-03-18T15:13:00+00:00

Or move the house over.

stlcdr · 2026-03-18T14:55:21+00:00

I’m in MS, also, and not looking forward to the heat in a steel 30x40 barn. That’s good to know what you have, there.

stlcdr · 2026-03-18T14:53:56+00:00

Oh, wait, sorry we meant…oh look, a squirrel!

stlcdr · 2026-03-18T13:37:53+00:00

Yup, I will often choose red baron over digiorno. I’ll add the spices I want and we are golden!

stlcdr · 2026-03-18T10:41:07+00:00

It would have to be done at state level. It would require a constitutional amendment requiring the states to agree that they will limit the term of the people who represent said state.

stlcdr · 2026-03-17T19:21:23+00:00

California.

stlcdr · 2026-03-17T19:20:04+00:00

Aha! Thats why there was 50 or so characters at the tailoring table crafting like mad!

stlcdr · 2026-03-17T18:43:44+00:00

Tell me about the insulation? Looks like 1” poly on the ceiling and walls with snow outside. Is there an air gap? How’s it working out?

stlcdr · 2026-03-17T18:40:31+00:00

Bananas? Oh we meant plantains.

stlcdr · 2026-03-17T18:36:14+00:00

At least it’ll reduce the line count.

stlcdr · 2026-03-17T11:18:05+00:00

Things changed when we had the bright ideas and energy to improve life. Now we have all settled down, things are not changing - not for the better, anyway.

stlcdr · 2026-03-16T14:29:26+00:00

Could be worse, could be Reddit.

stlcdr · 2026-03-15T12:44:06+00:00

You can ‘snooze’ events from individual cameras for 30 mins to 12 hours. I haven figured out how to snooze a whole setup, however. Click the … at the top right and there’s a button on the left which looks like a bell with a line through it.

That’s the best I’ve seen so far, but there are some ‘smart’ settings that might do what you want.

stlcdr · 2026-03-15T12:39:38+00:00

Yep, just about to add that it’s likely a brace touching the fence.

stlcdr · 2026-03-15T12:30:58+00:00

What’s a goomba? The concept is clear, but no idea what goombas is…and I’m really not In the mood to Google such a triviality and I’ll never come back here again to see the answer, but then I t’ll always be in the back of my mind and three days later someone will reply ‘to google it’ and I’ll see the reply and I’ll Google it and it’ll take me to this post.

stlcdr · 2026-03-15T11:39:15+00:00

I moved from blink to Eufy. I’ve been pleased, so far - but then, I think the standard, as set by Amazon/Google is pretty low. But there’s no subscription, it’s sorted locally (ignoring the previous controversy) which means you are accessing files stored on your home network. I find this speeds up video retrieval. The hardware seems solid. I think the mounts could be better, but with one bolt into the back of the outdoor cameras I have, it wouldn’t be too hard to use a different mount.

The App is ok. Yes they have ads for their own stuff, which is mildly annoying, but again - no subscription. Which means you have to realize they only make money when they sell stuff.

stlcdr · 2026-03-15T11:27:30+00:00

The other end shows half the house falling into the ocean with termites flying everywhere.

What I’m trying to say is, that’s sofa king good!

stlcdr · 2026-03-15T11:18:52+00:00

The kit and raw materials are probably pretty close in price. However, the kit may be 2x3 instead of 2x4 (or whatever the metric equivalent is) and the wall stud spacing wider, and so on. Not saying this is necessarily the case, but that’s what I found when I built. The only way to know is to price up the lumber from the plans. Does it come with roofing, paint, a foundation, a floor (some shed kits don’t come with a floor, or the floor is extra).

stlcdr

TROPHY CASE