Infrastructure Stimulus

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TheSmokinPun
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Re: Infrastructure Stimulus

Post by TheSmokinPun »

I would love to settle for a $225k house, alas, almost everything on the market is going fast, gets extreme bids out of nowhere, & almost everyone is waiving inspections & more just to be able to buy. But as you said, facts that you personally know hit harder than studies & statistics, so whatever. I guess I'm the fool for struggling to find work in an awful economy & never being able to buy home/land.
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Re: Infrastructure Stimulus

Post by DColeKC »

TheSmokinPun wrote: Fri Apr 09, 2021 2:00 pm I would love to settle for a $225k house, alas, almost everything on the market is going fast, gets extreme bids out of nowhere, & almost everyone is waiving inspections & more just to be able to buy. But as you said, facts that you personally know hit harder than studies & statistics, so whatever. I guess I'm the fool for struggling to find work in an awful economy & never being able to buy home/land.
Sounds like you're going through hard times, but you're only 31. Average age of a first time home buyer is 34.

You can take my information of seeing people do it in the real world and toss that out in favor of studies by who knows who using who knows what kind of twisted data to push a point if you'd like. Just saying that in KC and the midwest, your chances and ability of buying a home in your 30's is very good. No need to think you've got no chance since you're having a hard time during a pandemic finding work and buying a house during an insane sellers market. Obviously your call if you're going to be optimistic or pessimistic.
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FangKC
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Re: Infrastructure Stimulus

Post by FangKC »

A local realtor just posted last week that houses in Kansas City were selling within one month. There is very little product on market. My neighborhood Facebook page has regularly had residents complaining they were getting sick of regularly getting cold calls from house flippers/realtors asking if they want to sell their house.

Three houses on my block have been bought and renovated in the past year.
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im2kull
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Re: Infrastructure Stimulus

Post by im2kull »

DColeKC wrote: Fri Apr 09, 2021 11:56 am
phuqueue wrote: Fri Apr 09, 2021 8:46 am Who even needs studies or statistics when you have anecdotes?
Yeah, because anecdotal evidence isn't relevant. SMH

I'm talking about the FACTS I personally know. I don't disagree there are issues with wages not keeping pace with home prices but 66% of americans own a home, so spare me with the concept it's not possible. Let's be honest here and admit many millennials want the big 350K house when they really have a 225k budget.

Edit: Technically, I'm a millennial, so I'm not old guy bitching here.
This is true. I know MANY millennials who are basically delusional when it comes to anything finance related. I've seen one with a sub 550 credit score trying to buy a new motorcycle, and another couple making maybe $60K a year combined with TONS of missed payment history trying to buy a $250K plus home. It isn't going to happen. Nobody's going to hand you that because it's completely irresponsible. Instead of making on time payments and building towards the goal of buying a house most millennials I know are simply throwing their money away on poor habits (Starbucks, Netflix, car payments, food subscription services, and so forth) then blaming everyone else for their problems. It's def an entitlement generation.
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Re: Infrastructure Stimulus

Post by phuqueue »

DColeKC wrote: Fri Apr 09, 2021 11:56 am
phuqueue wrote: Fri Apr 09, 2021 8:46 am Who even needs studies or statistics when you have anecdotes?
Yeah, because anecdotal evidence isn't relevant. SMH

I'm talking about the FACTS I personally know. I don't disagree there are issues with wages not keeping pace with home prices but 66% of americans own a home, so spare me with the concept it's not possible. Let's be honest here and admit many millennials want the big 350K house when they really have a 225k budget.

Edit: Technically, I'm a millennial, so I'm not old guy bitching here.
The wonderfully vague "many" is doing a whole lot of work for you there. What is "many"? How "many"? And how many would it take to extrapolate from the "many" to draw conclusions about all the rest? Anecdotes just don't make for an especially strong foundation for sweeping generalizations about 70+ million people.
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DColeKC
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Re: Infrastructure Stimulus

Post by DColeKC »

phuqueue wrote: Fri Apr 09, 2021 8:33 pm
DColeKC wrote: Fri Apr 09, 2021 11:56 am
phuqueue wrote: Fri Apr 09, 2021 8:46 am Who even needs studies or statistics when you have anecdotes?
Yeah, because anecdotal evidence isn't relevant. SMH

I'm talking about the FACTS I personally know. I don't disagree there are issues with wages not keeping pace with home prices but 66% of americans own a home, so spare me with the concept it's not possible. Let's be honest here and admit many millennials want the big 350K house when they really have a 225k budget.

Edit: Technically, I'm a millennial, so I'm not old guy bitching here.
The wonderfully vague "many" is doing a whole lot of work for you there. What is "many"? How "many"? And how many would it take to extrapolate from the "many" to draw conclusions about all the rest? Anecdotes just don't make for an especially strong foundation for sweeping generalizations about 70+ million people.
Maybe you should peel your eyes away from studies and venture out into the real world and get yourself some antidotal evidence. I mean according to studies, police killings of unarmed people is a epidemic and white supremacist groups are walking the streets nightly hunting down black people. Both of these things are not true, but if you get all your info from the media and a few university studies, you’d sure think it was true.
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Re: Infrastructure Stimulus

Post by phuqueue »

The same guy who, a scant two pages ago, knew all there was to know about trains he has never ridden now says the only thing that you can really believe is your own lived experience.

Or I guess actually that should be, the only thing you can believe is his own lived experience, since TheSmokinPun's experience is apparently not really proof of anything except that TheSmokinPun, individually and wholly without any broader socioeconomic context, has (temporarily, we assume!) fallen on some "hard times." Keep your chin up, TheSmokinPun, DColeKC knows "dozens" of Millennials who have bought houses, and this, of course, is more meaningful than the fact that Millennials as a whole lag previous generations in homeownership and wealth accumulation.
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Re: Infrastructure Stimulus

Post by DColeKC »

phuqueue wrote: Sat Apr 10, 2021 11:44 am The same guy who, a scant two pages ago, knew all there was to know about trains he has never ridden now says the only thing that you can really believe is your own lived experience.

Or I guess actually that should be, the only thing you can believe is his own lived experience, since TheSmokinPun's experience is apparently not really proof of anything except that TheSmokinPun, individually and wholly without any broader socioeconomic context, has (temporarily, we assume!) fallen on some "hard times." Keep your chin up, TheSmokinPun, DColeKC knows "dozens" of Millennials who have bought houses, and this, of course, is more meaningful than the fact that Millennials as a whole lag previous generations in homeownership and wealth accumulation.
I never claimed to know all there is to know about Trains. We have to be experts to discuss certain topics on here now? Might as well shut it down. And who said I've never ridden a train? Where do you get this assumptions.

And sorry for offering up some hope for TheSmokinPun instead of playing the victim game... You offered some bullshit america sucks story and I simply offered up what I've seen in my own life. When I was 31 there was no way I could buy a house and it took years in the workforce to even start building my own personal wealth.

Plus, we all know you're the expert on basically all topics.
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Re: Infrastructure Stimulus

Post by phuqueue »

DColeKC wrote: Sat Apr 10, 2021 3:55 pm
phuqueue wrote: Sat Apr 10, 2021 11:44 am The same guy who, a scant two pages ago, knew all there was to know about trains he has never ridden now says the only thing that you can really believe is your own lived experience.

Or I guess actually that should be, the only thing you can believe is his own lived experience, since TheSmokinPun's experience is apparently not really proof of anything except that TheSmokinPun, individually and wholly without any broader socioeconomic context, has (temporarily, we assume!) fallen on some "hard times." Keep your chin up, TheSmokinPun, DColeKC knows "dozens" of Millennials who have bought houses, and this, of course, is more meaningful than the fact that Millennials as a whole lag previous generations in homeownership and wealth accumulation.
I never claimed to know all there is to know about Trains. We have to be experts to discuss certain topics on here now? Might as well shut it down. And who said I've never ridden a train? Where do you get this assumptions.
I inferred from the way you talk about Amtrak that you've never used it, and in response you said only "I have no use for it in it's current form," so I guess you'll just have to forgive me if I was wrong to (entirely reasonably) read that as confirmation. I mean, it's a minor thing anyway, because merely riding the train isn't going to provide relevant experience to actually run a railroad anyway. I wasn't intending to revive the Amtrak conversation as much as highlight the absurdity of "nothing is real except what I see with my own eyes."
And sorry for offering up some hope for TheSmokinPun instead of playing the victim game... You offered some bullshit america sucks story and I simply offered up what I've seen in my own life. When I was 31 there was no way I could buy a house and it took years in the workforce to even start building my own personal wealth.
Funny you should mention that, since 31 was the median age of all -- not even just first-time -- home-buyers (it's now, uh, much older, but I just can't figure out why!). So thanks, that's a great point, it took you longer to be able to buy a house than it used to, and when you were belatedly able to do so, it was, as we've been hearing in this thread, in one of the cheaper markets in the country. More evidence (only anecdotal, but those are the only real facts anyway) that it's a lot harder for younger people to buy a home than it used to be!
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DColeKC
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Re: Infrastructure Stimulus

Post by DColeKC »

phuqueue wrote: Sat Apr 10, 2021 4:25 pm
DColeKC wrote: Sat Apr 10, 2021 3:55 pm
phuqueue wrote: Sat Apr 10, 2021 11:44 am The same guy who, a scant two pages ago, knew all there was to know about trains he has never ridden now says the only thing that you can really believe is your own lived experience.

Or I guess actually that should be, the only thing you can believe is his own lived experience, since TheSmokinPun's experience is apparently not really proof of anything except that TheSmokinPun, individually and wholly without any broader socioeconomic context, has (temporarily, we assume!) fallen on some "hard times." Keep your chin up, TheSmokinPun, DColeKC knows "dozens" of Millennials who have bought houses, and this, of course, is more meaningful than the fact that Millennials as a whole lag previous generations in homeownership and wealth accumulation.
I never claimed to know all there is to know about Trains. We have to be experts to discuss certain topics on here now? Might as well shut it down. And who said I've never ridden a train? Where do you get this assumptions.
I inferred from the way you talk about Amtrak that you've never used it, and in response you said only "I have no use for it in it's current form," so I guess you'll just have to forgive me if I was wrong to (entirely reasonably) read that as confirmation. I mean, it's a minor thing anyway, because merely riding the train isn't going to provide relevant experience to actually run a railroad anyway. I wasn't intending to revive the Amtrak conversation as much as highlight the absurdity of "nothing is real except what I see with my own eyes."
And sorry for offering up some hope for TheSmokinPun instead of playing the victim game... You offered some bullshit america sucks story and I simply offered up what I've seen in my own life. When I was 31 there was no way I could buy a house and it took years in the workforce to even start building my own personal wealth.
Funny you should mention that, since 31 was the median age of all -- not even just first-time -- home-buyers (it's now, uh, much older, but I just can't figure out why!). So thanks, that's a great point, it took you longer to be able to buy a house than it used to, and when you were belatedly able to do so, it was, as we've been hearing in this thread, in one of the cheaper markets in the country. More evidence (only anecdotal, but those are the only real facts anyway) that it's a lot harder for younger people to buy a home than it used to be!
I was simply offering my opinion on Amtrak. Like always, I'm no expert and I'm not trying to actually change minds. I have no use for the service currently and like I stated, that doesn't mean I don't think it's an important form of transportation to a very small amount of people in a few larger cities.

I'm not arguing that it's harder to purchase a home than it was 50 years ago and I'm not arguing housing prices haven't outpaced earnings. I'm not also claiming the study you dropped in here is fake news either. I was offering up my own experience and being my personal experience, I know it's not representative of the entire country. You're the one who for some reason, had to jump on my ass and claim my own experience (and others) is irrelevant.

Also, I still haven't purchased a home, but I could. I still live DT while we build a new home.

At this point, besides you just being a prick and dismissing any input I offer, I'm not even sure what the argument here is.
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smh
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Re: Infrastructure Stimulus

Post by smh »

Don't know what the argument is here, but man a slightly faster and more frequent River Runner could be a significant asset to Missouri.
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Re: Infrastructure Stimulus

Post by FangKC »

I'm all for a faster train to St. Louis. I wish we could get one that didn't require going through Jefferson City, and instead would stop in Columbia on the way to St. Louis.
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Re: Infrastructure Stimulus

Post by DColeKC »

FangKC wrote: Sun Apr 11, 2021 4:44 am I'm all for a faster train to St. Louis. I wish we could get one that didn't require going through Jefferson City, and instead would stop in Columbia on the way to St. Louis.
As a Mizzou and Cardinals fan, I would love this.
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Re: Infrastructure Stimulus

Post by smh »

Agreed. I think in a modern country you'd just switch to a short train at Columbia to head down to Jefferson City as needed. But have to think Columbia would driver significantly higher ridership for a lot of reasons.
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Re: Infrastructure Stimulus

Post by shinatoo »

Isn't it about rural service? Never understood why there isn't a short train to Columbia from Jeff City.

Or a Columbia, Jeff City, Springfield train.
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Re: Infrastructure Stimulus

Post by smh »

shinatoo wrote: Sun Apr 11, 2021 4:05 pm Isn't it about rural service? Never understood why there isn't a short train to Columbia from Jeff City.

Or a Columbia, Jeff City, Springfield train.
Because it is too easy to drive and automobiles (for those who have one which is almost everyone in mid-Missouri) will always win on the departure and routing flexibility front.
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Re: Infrastructure Stimulus

Post by phuqueue »

I'm guessing the reason there is no train service to Columbia is that there are no KC-STL rail lines that pass through Columbia. In principle it seems like a much better idea than running through the much smaller Jefferson City, but without laying new rail, I think the only possible route is KC-STL via Centralia, where a spur line runs down to Columbia. Then your options are to have people transfer to a Columbia/Centralia shuttle service, run three separate routes (KC/Columbia, KC/STL, STL/Columbia), or have every KC/STL train run down the spur to Columbia and back up to the main line again (adding ~45 miles to a through-rider's trip). I mean obviously just laying new rail for a direct run would be ideal, but what are the odds of that happening? I'm not really a math person but is a probability of less than 0% a thing in some exotic branch of math?

It does seem like Amtrak could add a bus connection from Jeff City to Columbia that would probably juice the ridership numbers at Jeff City a bit, though. It's not ideal, but hell, if it's good enough for San Francisco, it's good enough for Columbia, MO.
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Re: Infrastructure Stimulus

Post by normalthings »

Katy Trail connects Sedalia with i70. could lay tracks in the i70 ROW through Columbia and into STL.

On the KC side, could try to have the RR hop onto the Rock Island and then over to US.
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Re: Infrastructure Stimulus

Post by FangKC »

A main line should run through Columbia and the spur should run down to Jefferson City. Columbia is the bigger city now, and the traffic driver -- mostly because of the universities. The route might head east out of KC to Warrensburg, Sedalia, then shoot back up northeast to around Boonville, Columbia, Wentzville, St. Peters, St.Charles, Hazelwood, Lambert Airport, into St Louis.

I wish they could run track along the I-70 right-of-way. I don't know if it could handle some grades though. The current route follows the river bottom because it's flat. There are steep grades in Europe though, but it does slow the trains down.
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Re: Infrastructure Stimulus

Post by FangKC »

Biden’s American Jobs Plan addresses Missouri infrastructure: What to know

https://themissouritimes.com/bidens-ame ... t-to-know/
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