Chult86

This is beyond spot on.

A spade's a spade. Sorry you have the blinders on. You do you, I'll do me.

I wonder if some of the residents of El Salvador, Guatemala, etc. are also this indignant to their fellow countrymen who are looking at leaving to provide a better, more stable upbringing for their kids and pack up to head to the United States. I don't want my son growing up where this sort of discourse and commentary from a "leader" is acceptable. This isn't about "winning" as you seem to think, but about me making a choice on where I think my family, and future generations, will have the best chance of leaving a happy, contributory life.

You say that, but this is different than before. We know exactly their plan, the guardrails from our institutions in 2016 are gone, and the adults have left the room. I’m a white male who made an uninformed vote for the man in 2016, but that doesn’t mean I can’t read the room.

This may seem like reactionary hyperbole, but my wife and I are serious about looking elsewhere for us and our son to live. I have a fantastic career, with a CEO (D) that is great to work for. However, southwest Florida is not… The best school system/curriculum, super touristy and cost of living is sky high, predominantly republican, and other annoyances. Completely ignoring the fact that abortion didn’t pass (yes I understand our completely fucked up 60% rule for these measures in FL) Both of us would be terrible teachers, so homeschooling is out of the question. Also, we both heavily believe in the socialization benefits that come from attending public school. However, we have zero desire for him to be a product of this school system. I could go on and on, but ultimately after this election we’ve realized that the good ol US of A isn’t what it once was. Seeing GenZ move towards the right makes us, as Millenials, now feel like outcasts in our own country. The last gasp of the Baby Boomers… convincing GenZ to think like them. We’ve lost hope that the ship can be course corrected. There are numerous other countries around the world offering comparable or better standard of living, social benefits, and healthcare, that are more aligned with our beliefs. We aren’t that concerned with climate either (she grew up in the Midwest and now FL, while I was born and raised in La Porte/Kemah area, before spending decent chunks of time in New England and now FL). It’s obviously a potentially completely life altering move for us, but one we feel is necessary for our son to grow up in a place better than where we are both currently and headed to. We have enough equity in our assets to be able to walk away from all debt with $100,000 in liquid assets to relocate with. I would be able to maintain employment for at least the short term. What I’m hoping surly can help with, is which of these countries are actually feasible? Has anyone done this before?

Beyond preconceived worst case scenarios

No regrets on the campaign. I thought they did great. I overestimated my fellow American citizen, drastically. This country has core, fundamental issues rooted too deeply in religion and racism. Fuck.

If I can throw my own anecdotal non-quantifiable local observations on the pile... Living in Sarasota, FL... about as red (and old... and white...) as it gets here... there are literally ZERO trump flags and trucks/etc this year compared to 2020. 2020 we had truck parades of his supporters with dozens of their flags driving around coal-rolling everywhere... merchandise stands popped up on streets in numerous places selling Trump/Pence shirts... Now? This year? I honked vigorously at a collection of Harris/Walz folks on a major intersection yesterday. FL has both abortion and legal weed on the ballot, so it gives hope of going back blue... but there's a LOT of republican transplants from CA/NY that have moved here since 2020. Trump enthusiasm locally is not even measurable compared to four years ago.

Inland towards Lakewood Ranch... Coquina shells hurt the most when stepped on barefoot. Speaking from numerous experiences.

Well this blows

Made it through... lost every non-palm tree in our yard. That was a bitch to begin to cleanup. Was only able to tackle the front yard since the back still has about 3" of standing water everywhere. Protip... downed trees sitting in water are seemingly exponentially heavier to move to the curb than ones NOT sitting in water... Initial reports are... quite good, considering the expectations. Surge on the barrier islands not AS bad as expected, and Sanibel survived with just a scratch compared to Ian. Still no power at our house, but I'd say 10% of the business are open this morning. Stopped to get a coffee and it has never tasted as good as it has this morning.

Fuck me. Eyewall will pass over our home. NE side as well most likely. Should be fine. No flood issue at all where we are. But as I mentioned earlier in this thread... I am going to age six years in the next six months from the work coming up.

I've posted here before that I work for a large rental agency in SWFL... Hurricane Ian was the equivalent to a humanitarian crisis two years ago. To this day I tell people the two weeks after that storm were the most stressful two weeks of my professional career. Trying to locate staff, make sure guests and tenants were accounted for... trying to find accommodations for people that had a roof, running water and electricity... it was hell. Absolute hell. And here we go with part two... 800+ occupied rental homes is going to make the next two weeks hell, again.

Goddamnit I literally just snipped this same image off of CNN's main page... "Trump indicted, here's how that's bad for Kamala" It's stuff like this that makes the notion of the "liberal" media almost the ultimate hypocrisy.

Not to be rude, but this isn't true in any fashion at all. It's entirely up to the host to ensure cleanliness. AirBNB will habitually side with the guest during any sort of dispute about the property. We had a refund given by AirBNB because the guest said the pool was unusable... because of the thunderstorm.

We manage over 5,000 "AirBNB" reservations every year, some direct bookings, some VRBO, etc. My advice: Traveling with kids and their friends/another family, get an AirBNB Traveling to a spot with a specific view or niche location (log cabin, ON the beach, etc), get an AirBNB Traveling to a city/general area, get a hotel room When I travel for work it's always a hotel. The usual joke within our industry is never try to slit your wrists in an AirBNB, the knives are too dull and you'll just end up scratching yourself.

Slightly wet week here...

Part of my optimism for this election comes down to, oddly enough, things like Instagram and TikTok. Historically, the youth don't turn out to vote, largely because of lack of education about the political issues, as well as a general apathy to how tax code changes affect them. Now, in this day and age, young people are more informed than at any time in our country's history, maybe even globally. They are continually exposed to clips explaining the differences between the parties. Also, shocker... taking away reproductive rights from young people is a surefire way to get them to care enough to turn out and vote. The wealth and income gap has never been worse, daily life has never been more expensive, and the youth by and large do not see Trump as the one to course-correct it all. I would be very surprised if we don't see record turnout amongst people 18-40.

I don't post all that often, though don't mistake that for not enjoying this board's discourse, OUsucks/Texags point and laughs, and quality original content on a frequent basis. I haven't felt this sort of enthusiasm about the future of the country in over eight years. Same for my wife. We've been on a road trip the last two days and as such have gotten to digest this with each other seeing the news, subsequent endorsements, and then today's speech. Let me backtrack a few weeks... The despair really came to fruition the night of the debate. It wasn't THAT bad, it was the worst possible performance other than pissing yourself on stage. Watching it that night, my wife and I first shared feelings of shock. Again, it wasn't as bad as it had been rumored, it was somehow worse. We (and the entire country) knew that night that the only way Biden could win the election would be to get enough anti-Trump people to GOTV. However, that was going to be next to impossible given the level of enthusiasm with the campaign as soon as they walked off the stage that night. We realized that night that Trump had gone from likely longshot odds to win, to a position where even he probably couldn't screw up the next few months bad enough to lose. Those feelings were soon replaced by frustration and anger. Anger at the DNC for forcing Biden to run again and not spending his term as a true transitional leader and prepare the next generation to lead. Let's be 100% honest: There is nothing about "what the people want" less than forcing two basically octogenarians onto us for the choice to lead the free world for the next four years. Two candidates who wouldn't live long enough to see the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of their policies. Two candidates who should be retired, not running for the most stressful job in the world. Between Daycare and Health Insurance premiums, we are close to $30,000/year, and that's assuming everyone stays healthy. That's our floor. People on Medicare with a supplement pay usually no more than $5k/year, and that's their ceiling. So when the debate question about Childcare got skipped over completely with nary a word related to the topic at all from either candidate, further resignation and apathy about the ridiculousness of how parts of our country operate set in. As a Millennial, going through 9/11 in high school (Biology class when the news hit), graduating college into the Great Recession and competing against literal MBAs for entry level jobs, to finally COVID. How fortunate are we to live through three "once in a generation" events between the times most of us are between the ages of 20 and 40, in our prime earning years. We know that the "Dad was a milkman and supported a family of four in a 3/2 suburbia and vacationed every year" was a literal thing. We know how far behind we are, thanks to decades of policy decisions that just continued to cut the bottom rungs off of the ladder one at a time. In exchange for going through that, our choices for the next four years were these two guys... again... just four years older. In what world are Millennials and Gen Z supposed to think that the American Dream exists in any fashion whatsoever? While older generations expressed dismay at Gen Z not savings and spending for experiences now, us Millennials were like "Ya... we get it. We probably should have done more of that ourselves at your age." The "We're Not Going Back" line is great. We don't want to go back to the same old drawing board of "Thoughts & Prayers about your most recent shooting" and "It'll trickle down this time, we promise!". It hasn't worked, it isn't working, and it won't work. Is Kamala perfect? No. Will she deliver on half of her campaign promises? Doubtful, depends on the down ballot results mostly. Is she a breath of fresh air to anyone begging for a choice to vote for someone else? Abso-fucking-lutely. Somehow, Nikki Haley likely had it right when said "The first party to retire their 80-year old candidate will win this election." Even if she only delivers on 25% of her promises, that would be a substantial step forward, compared to the regression we'd see under Trump. I didn't expect this post to be this long. In a way, it was sort of cathartic to write out the generalized frustrations of the last several years. But oddly... that desire to write this out is because I'm finally, FINALLY optimistic about our future in a real way. In a way where there might be a chance that I won't have to worry about my son in school doing active shooter drills, where we might not benefit from Universal Child Care, but future generations will, because they should. Where if someone changes jobs they aren't risking financial ruin before their next set of benefits kicks in, because again, be honest... no one pays the ridiculous COBRA premiums unless they are already in a situation where it's needed. Stop trying to fix the old ladder. Just build a fucking new one.

Wife and I certainly are.

Both the RNC and DNC should be embarassed.

One last thing... make sure it's set up so that you never have to speak to the renter, ever. If the tenant/guest gets your info somehow, they will never call the management company again and will just call you... no matter what time of day it is.

The company I run in Florida handles a little under 500 properties with long-term tenants/leases, and about 300 short-term rentals for vacation stays. As mentioned above, finding/qualifying the right Property Management Company can mean the all the difference in the world. At a minimum, MINIMUM, your management company should be providing detailed inspections with photos and comments. What type of home is it? Is it in a highly desirable tourist area? Is it furnished or empty? Do you ever use the home yourself for vacations/travel? What sort of cash flow do you need to have coming in to manage your expenses? A lot of owners make the mistake of thinking their home is worth $X/month, when the market is dictating that it's worth $Y/month. Is there a Homeowner's Association? If so, what sort of rental regulations/restrictions do they have? What city/county is it in? Often times, differing municipalities will have overlapping restrictions on what you can do. I could trim 20% of our staff if it wasn't for HOAs around here... What timeline do you see yourself owning the home? What work is needed to get the property ready for a rental? Paint, flooring, appliances, etc What sort of vendors/tradesmen do you work with personally in the area? Is the management company willing to use your vendor first before their own maintenance team or other vendors? What is your ultimate end-game goal for the home? Remind yourself that whatever management company you choose you are ultimately asking them to manage (depending on personal circumstances) probably your single biggest asset outside of your primary residence. You should be looking for someone that you feel you can trust with managing what is more or less a large, illiquid investment. If you have other questions, I'd be happy to answer.

Stand by ignorance of statistics relative to every other player, go right ahead.

Jesus this level of revisionist history is uphauling for this forum. My typo is intended to match the level of thought that went into your post.