How to make housing more affordable for regular folks - eliminate real estate agent commissions!

 There are a lot of things in the world that piss me off and this is one of them. Outrageous housing costs.

Photo credit: Google Gemini AI

The cost of housing for people who weren't already fortunate enough to buy when housing was cheaper is out of reach for most people today.

You want to know one of the reasons why? Commissions paid to real estate agents. 

Here's why. They generally get a commission of around ±5% of the sale price. This is the same percentage regardless of the final sale price of the house. 

For example, they get a 5% commission if the house sells for $200,000 or if the house sells for $400,000. From an agent's standpoint, this encourages them to sell the house for as much as they can, because they get more money that way.

In addition, and this is what I think really is the problem, the actual work that an agent does to sell a $200,000 house versus a $400,000 house, or even a $1 million house, is exactly the same!!! They list the house, they show it to potential buyers, they help handle the necessary paperwork, etc. None of that changes if the price of the house is different. The work they do is exactly the same!!!

So, why is this? Why isn't there a law that sets a fixed fee or rate for agents per house? I mean, getting licensed to be a real estate agent isn't rocket science. You don't need to be a genius to learn to do that. 

For example, suppose we set a base fee of $10,000 per house. (That would be equivalent to 5% of a $200,000 sales price.) Suppose an agent sells 1 house per month. That's 12 x $10,000 = $120,000. If the agent sells 2 houses a month, that's $240,000. You telling me an agent can't live on that?

Do you disagree with me? Do you have any other suggestions, maybe an hourly rate like a plumber or an electrician or a lawyer (although that might get outrageous too!). 

Google says my content has low value

Hey,

Google won't put Ad Sense ads on my blog because it says my blog content has low value. Well, gee, what do I have to do, start putting click baiting links in here where you waste 20 minutes watching a video of me telling you how great something is, without telling you what that something is, unless you click on another link that forces you to watch ANOTHER click bait video?

 

Giuseppe Leonardo

Photo Credit: ©Aceyou

I dunno, I've seen a lot of sites worse than mine. How am I gonna become a successful content creator if they keep turning me down?

Any ideas? Should I just start using AI to write stuff? 

Maybe this picture of my dog will help?

Can you guess the breed? Nah, you can't. It's a Labrahuahua. Someone either got down real low or used a step-stool for him to happen, if you catch my drift. Oops, maybe that violates Google's content conditions? 

Thought I had failed turbos, transmission, alternator, and/or onboard electronic controls. You won't believe what it turned out to be.

 This is very long. I apologize in advance.

 

Photo Credit: ©Aceyou

So, the last 2 months I had been having a random problem with my 2019 Q60 Red Sport. About 4 or 5 different times, when I started the car up - either for the first time that day or later in the day after I had previously started it with no problems, I would suddenly get a very sluggish accelerator/engine response. I'd push the gas peddle down forcefully and the car would slowly move forward, it would take forever to change to a higher gear, and the fake exhaust noise from the rear speakers would get really loud. I'd try changing driving modes, switching to manual paddle shifters, etc., but, nothing changed.

When this happened, I would then park the car, turn off the engine, wait 5+ minutes, then start the car again. After doing that, the car responded normally. It would stay that way for several more days, then, randomly it would happen again. 

So, I'm thinking I have some sort of turbo malfunction, a transmission malfunction, or some screwy computer malfunction with my car's brain being confused as to what to do. 

Last Tuesday it happened again while I was dropping my daughter and granddaughter off for a meeting. Again, I stopped the engine, waited 5 minutes, started it again, and everything worked normally. I then drove to a gym for a workout while I waited for their meeting to be over. After my hour workout, I went to my car, used the key fob to unlock the door, but, when I tried to start my car nothing happened! The start button would not move, there was no clicking noise of a dead battery (which is a fairly new battery), and no lights were on anywhere. Even the gear shift would not move!!! Nothing like that had ever happened to me before. 

I opened the hood, everything looked normal as far as I could tell. No fluid leaks, no wires disconnected, battery looked ok, etc. So, I called a tow company for help. They said if I couldn't get the car into neutral, they'd have to drag it. Great - I'm going to need new tires too on top of whatever else this is going to cost me to fix I thought to myself. Plus, I'm going to have to tow the car home then have it towed again in the morning to a repair shop because they are all closed now - it's after 6 PM.

While waiting I started gathering all of my personal belongings. When I tried to open the trunk, I couldn't! The trunk release button, like the starter button, would not do anything. So, I'm thinking - I'm lucky I even got the car unlocked to begin with!

So, I finally figured out how to get the car into neutral - there's a tab you can remove by the gear shift, then you stick a key in the hole and push down, and that frees it. I called the tow truck driver and he said it sounds like a complete alternator failure. I said, well, can we at least try a jump start when you get here? He said sure. 

Finally, the tow truck arrives just as it starts to rain!!! He gets out his jumper cables, starts to connect them to my battery, then I notice a puzzled look on his face. He goes back in his truck, gets a pair of pliers, removes the jumper cables, fiddles around with the battery, then tells me, "Try starting it now." I go into the car, all the lights come on, and the car starts right up!!!

I asked him what did he do and he said the battery cable to the positive electrode on my battery was loose. When he tried to connect the jumper cable, it started moving around. So he just tightened it. 

I felt like a moron because I didn't notice that at all when I checked my battery. He said he's seen this happen lots and lots of times. 

Anyway, that was 3-1/2 days ago. I have had no problems at all since. I'm just posting this in case anyone else happens to experience something like this or has experienced anything like this before. Plus, I'm going to add a small tool kit to my car just in case it happens again!

My next door neighbor told me he voted for Trump because he was the lesser of two evils

Last November (or December - I don't remember for sure) my next door neighbor, who I have been friendly with for years - still am - told me he voted for Trump over Harris because he was "...the lesser of two evils."

 

 

Photo Credit: www.whitehouse.gov (Fair Use)

I asked him how could he say that about a 34 time convicted felon and con-man. His reply was he didn't believe he had been convicted of any felony and that he wasn't conning anyone.

Hmmm....

Lemme see - Trump said he was going to lower the cost of living, stop getting us involved in wars, get rid of illegal, hard-core criminal immigrants, stop the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours, and not get us into any other wars. 

Gee - what am I missing here? Grocery prices have gone up, crude oil and gasoline prices have gone up enormously, he's unleashed an ICE army of poorly trained and masked thugs who have killed US citizens and arrested and departed same with no due process as required by law, including taking children - babies - away from their parents, we're in a war with Iran that he started - something he said he'd never do - he's alienated almost all of our former allies in NATO and other parts of the world, he's made non-Americans hate the USA and lose all respect for us, etc., etc.

Wow - that's a pretty impressive list!

Now can someone tell me - how would Kamala Harris have made it even more evil? 

How? 

And does anyone except my neighbor really believe that?

 

 

Can AI be trusted with critical tasks when it doesn't even know who the Pittsburgh Steelers QB is?

Do you think Artificial "Intelligence" (AI) is the safe future for us? Read this and prove me wrong.

Someone posted a story about the Pittsburgh Steelers yesterday on Facebook. (I think it was someone bitching about the NFL telling the Steelers they couldn't fly to Ireland for their game against the Vikings Sunday until later in the week.)

     

Photo © F.J. Maccioli

Anyway, there was a Meta AI summary of the story below the post, as happens with many FB posts these days. I decided to read the summary instead of clicking on what might have been another clickbait post (and that's ANOTHER story) and was surprised at what Meta AI had to say. 

After summarizing details about the temporarily postponed trip to Ireland, Meta AI said Kenny Pickett is the Steelers quarterback (QB)! 

Well, every Y'inzer knows that isn't true anymore, so, I messaged Meta AI and told it that, no, Pickett left the Steelers last year for the Philadelphia Eagles and this year he was with another team.

Meta AI immediately responded, saying that Kenny Pickett is the current Steelers QB and that I was wrong. I responded again and said, no, Kenny Pickett is not the Steelers QB. He isn't with the Steelers this year. Meta AI responded again, insisting that he was still the Steelers QB.

Exasperated, I replied one more time, again saying he isn't the Steelers QB and isn't even on the team, after which Meta AI finally responded and conceded that I was correct, apologized for its error in saying he was the QB, and said that it is still learning and making mistakes.

Take a pause here... Think about what I just wrote. Re-read it if you must. 

Now, imagine you are a doctor and relying on AI to help you diagnose a patient and come up with a treatment. Or, you're with the military and relying on AI to tell you if something is a threat and should be attacked.

Or, imagine just about ANYTHING that is more important than who the Steelers QB is - are you going to trust AI?

I'm not.