HARD TIMES

Sunday, March 1. 2009

Times are tough here, as more and more businesses face difficulties. Thankfully, Hare Link is keeping its head above water, thanks mainly to low overhead, low debt and the contract we have with the city. A bigger asset is probably Danielle, whose number crunching has been keeping costs down.
Herd Thinners, Inc. with its global customer base is probably safe, falling into the category of Too Big To Fail. Other than that, most local businesses are just trying to survive. That would presumably include the ones down in the Rabbit Warren.
I bring that up because Dad will be attending another Rabbit Council meeting this week. (As usual, he’s required to bring Coney along.) I haven’t paid much attention to the goings-on down there in recent years, even though it’s where I grew up. I have no connections to the place anymore.
Still, due to Dad’s position I’ve gleaned that they’re also suffering along with everyone else. The problem is real estate, but not in the way it works here on the surface. We buy and sell land. Rabbit buy and sell tunnels, i.e., the absence of land. Real estate is measured not in acres but in cubic feet to indicate the size of the excavation.
During the past decade, too many tunnels were built too quickly by too many speculators as prices skyrocketed from lax oversight. Then the market collapsed.
Literally.
A number of tragic cave-ins led to loss of confidence in tunneling construction, and people stopped buying new, untested tunnels. The rest is history. Now, rabbits are trying to get their economy running again, but they need to find something to sell to us surface-dwellers. That’s going to be the problem Dad will address this week.
Another problem is that it’s March, when rabbits have a hard time focusing on...well, anything.
This week's question: how do humans handle real estate? With us, our lots extend to the limit of our tree's root system.

Posted by Lindesfarne at 02:03 | Comments (25) | Trackbacks (0)

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Humans handle real estate poorly. The speculators-and many buyers-here did stupid things to the market, like buying a house, making no changes and selling it again two weeks later for a 50% profit. Worse, they built more houses than many areas can feasibly support-there isn't the water supply for the houses in Las Vegas or Phoenix, for example.

The lots are pre-divided by the developers who built the subdivision or by town and city councils. In my rural hometown, it's not unusual for a 3 acre lot to be next to a 1/4 acre lot because the 3 acre belongs to the family that originally owned the other nearby lots, and so divided them. Zoning laws also dictate in my town how big lots can be, what can be built on them (agricultural, commercial or strictly residential), where utility lines can be built and most importantly, where boundaries are made. Rather than digging through soil to determine where the lines are, one must dig through town building permits. It's both a better and a worse system than yours.

On the one hand, we have specific regulations for "overlapping" territories and neither our nor our neighbor's lot sizes change. On the other hand, it's more difficult to determine exactly where lots begin and end and it's more difficult to figure out if the neighbor's hedge is encroaching on your land.

#1 Selina Grace on 2009-03-01 03:50 (Reply)

Hare Link's greatest asset is that they are basically a family. Almost all of the employees are members of the extended Dewclaw household and those that aren't currently members (like Fenton) expect to be part of it someday in the foreseeable future. Those that aren't and don't expect to be (like Candace) feel that they owe a debt of gratitude.

Herd Thinners will survive because RL is basically honest. He may be a rapacious businessman as you stated last week, but he stays within the rules. Now, if Angelique were in charge, things might be different.

One thing the rabbits might sell: what we humans refer to as 'clean fill dirt'. As for their collapsing tunnels, I suggest building them along the lines of Bilbo Baggins' home. Well constructed and reinforced...

March hares are concentrated on something! It's just not financial business.

We handle real estate by selling fixed plots of land, usually in rectangular or square plots. The boundaries remain the same for as long as a single group such as a family or business owns it. When it is sold, it can be divided into smaller plots. A question: It would appear that, in your world, there would be constant land disputes as trees expand their root systems. People like the Fennecs (pre-crash) would be in constant danger of losing parts of their land as trees grow. How are such disputes handled?

#2 CharlieG on 2009-03-01 04:47 (Reply)

Fertile soil trade sounds reasonable.

#3 jup-reindeer on 2009-03-01 07:16 (Reply)

Hmm. It's more like the surface dwellers -- buying and selling includes the overall surface area of the land. However, technically, there's also some consideration given to the Air Rights (the airspace directly over a given piece of property, and also the Underground Rights directly beneath that property (underground usually covers things like mineral rights or oil rights). There's limitations with respect to airspace that planes fly through, but (especially in big cities) you may have control over whether new tall buildings can be built that may infringe upon your view or your sunshine (if you're now suddenly in the shade all the time). On the underground side, there may be easements when there's burried utilities (gas, water, electric, sewer, etc.) when these things pass through your property.

#4 GreatScott on 2009-03-01 09:40 (Reply)

We do more stupid things than even Selina Grace mentions (although we are stopping with the housing bubble popping). For another example, renting to people who have NO chance of paying the rent. They used the rising price of their property to get loans to pay the rent. Now they are in foreclosure.
Your family is very lucky. Optimists here think the recession will be as bad as the lost decade between 1973 and 1982. Pessimists think it will be as bad as the Great Depression (I am a pessimist).
Sounds like the rabbits are not diversified enough. Try to get as many into non-real estate jobs as you can. STRICTLY enforce safety rules...get a reputation of having learned your lesson. Dig fewer but better tunnels...try to convince those who have the bubble tunnels that these are SAFE.

#5 Thomas Mazanec (Link) on 2009-03-01 11:18 (Reply)

It's only pessimism if you're not a realist!

#5.1 kaotik4266 on 2009-03-02 02:01 (Reply)

Mr. Mazanec, I think you mean lending mortgages, not renting to. Renters are, more often than not, innocent bystanders in this. They live in the house, but they did not take out the loan on it, and so when their landlord doesn't pay the mortgage, even though they paid their rent every month, the renter may still get kicked out of their house. However, I agree that that whole debacle was a tremendously bad thing, and it was a huge oversight of me to forget it.

#6 Selina Grace on 2009-03-01 13:33 (Reply)

When I was growing up, real estate had a reputation of being a relatively safe investment. The "housing bubble" threw things off course, at least for the moment.

From what I've been reading, the optimists are predicting recovery later this year, with more (including myself) seeing difficult times for several years. A few are predicting another depression, though in my opinion the odds of that are low.

And yes, politicians fail you, businessmen fail you, but one can count on family.

#7 Bixyl Shuftan (Link) on 2009-03-01 14:08 (Reply)

Well, not always. I have one or two that I wouldn't trust with a 6" pole.

#7.1 Mortar on 2009-03-01 22:25 (Reply)

Sorry I haven't responded to any messages today. It's snowing here at school (an unusual event in this part of the world), and the connection is intermittent. If I were home I'd have access to Hare Link's equipment and there'd be no problem.

#8 Lindesfarne Dewclaw on 2009-03-01 17:47 (Reply)

It's stopped snowing...Now everything on the road is going to freeze during the night. Something tells me I won't have class tomorrow.

#9 Lindesfarne Dewclaw on 2009-03-01 22:30 (Reply)

Lindesfarne, if we shut down class everytime we had snow or ice in this part of the country, the made up days would last all summer long.

#9.1 Thomas Mazanec (Link) on 2009-03-02 00:47 (Reply)

There's a lot of renting any more, which is good, but bad at the same time.

And lucky you Lindes. I live in Arizona, which is practically Desert like. If there's any ice down here, it's in your freezer.

#10 Kylen on 2009-03-02 04:59 (Reply)

Oh I forgot March was the "Fun" Month for rabbits, keep an eye on your folks. I'm sure they don't want to end up with another kid this early.

#11 Rex Dragon (Link) on 2009-03-02 10:51 (Reply)

This housing market ends up affecting a great number of people. In my case it does affect my father in law because he is a real estate appraiser.

Having mentioned that, I will mention the things about real estate I have learned from him and my own house hunting adventures.

For starters, you may recall the homes in Rudy's old comics about humans building homes by cutting down live trees and cutting them into the needed forms. There are technically some homes built out of concrete, but they are not as popular. Even homes made out of brick tend to have a fair bit of wood used in the construction. When a person has chosen to purchase the home and has won the bid on it, they then have an inspector and an appraiser come to the home.

They check things such as the shingles on the roof (designed to keep out water leaks and such), mold in the home, wood rot, and foundation problems. They also look for signs of various infestations such as termites or rodents (both of which must be taken care of with poisons or traps). For the foundation problems, let me mention that the foundation is made by pouring concrete into a form on the ground and building the home on top of that. Sometimes things such has tree roots can grow under the home and cause damage to the foundation, which in turn can cause serious damage to the home if not caught quickly enough.

Once all of this is done, the home's value is determined by the appraiser. A report is also written by the inspector letting the buyer know what they are getting themselves into.

Just so this is covered as well, I know that in the case of your parent's home, they measure their equity by the amount of shade the tree has and general health of the tree itself. A homes equity is determined by market demand, condition of the home, and the neighborhood and school district, subtracted by whatever you still owe on the home/what you originally paid for it (this is what I understand, any humans who need to correct me on this, please speak up!).

#12 Librarypages on 2009-03-02 19:52 (Reply)

The entire eastern seaboard practically has been bombarded with snow in you world to,which is rather strange as this is technically the end of meteorological winter.This makes me wonder whether.It's not global warming(it's almost negative degrees with wind chill factor)But the weather being plain ornery!The idea of colder, harsher winters and hotter,again harsher summers makes more sense than "the entire world is in a greenhouse in August!"
As my housing,I'm lucky to be renting somewhere that I won't get kicked out of, as my landlord would go insane if she kicked Stace and I out,due to a bunch of Morris dancing undergrads she is also renting to for a higher price.(Yes Morris Dancing.Good in concept,but...)

#13 Laura on 2009-03-02 23:21 (Reply)

As usual, I'll leave the questions on humans to be answered by humans, I like reading about what that silly species does (no offense, human readers) as much as Lindesfarne!

I will mention that although Hare Link does business globally being an ISP and an Internet based company, by no means would I say it's "Too Big To Fail", that's an epithet I usually reserve for mega corporations like MicroTalon and even Herd Thinners (I'm assuming there's similar things in the human world).

I see HareLink as still more of a local company that happens to have a worldwide clientele. I know this because, until a few months ago, I too owned an Internet company run out of my house (very much like Hare Link, actually), I specialized in web design, but added other internet services later as "value added services". I don't know if it was the poor economy (despite the fact that it's been this way at my co. for a few years now) or what, but I just wasn't getting any business from it (just had a small client base, most of it from friends that own businesses here in town, but a few in other countries as well), not enough money from it to be worthwhile, and, most of all, it was taking away from my family. So I decided to close my business at the end of 2008. (Thankfully, I've always had my "day job", in one of those "Too Big To Fail" companies (a Fortune 500 co.))

(And, for the record, Lindesfarne, even though I offered very similar products to Hare Link, and operated in the same market, I never once blamed Hare Link for the failure of my business (although, before I found out about your blog and learned to be a bit more tolerant of those on the other end of the chain, I was a bit more competitive towards Hare Link ; ) ) - in fact, now that I'm gone I wish Hare Link all the best and then some, my business wasn't all I had as I have something to fall back on. Your dad doesn't, and I wouldn't want to see that happen even to an antelope (mmmm, antelope!))

#14 Ken D. Lion on 2009-03-03 22:45 (Reply)

Lindesfarne, are there Kindles on your side of the portal?
what are they like?

#15 nate on 2009-03-04 00:23 (Reply)

"are there Kindles on your side of the portal?"

There probably are, but it occurred to me that if there aren't...that would be a surreal question "over there". Kindle being the surname of Kevin's and Danielle's family...

(And just in case--"over here" the Kindle is an ebook reader.)

#15.1 Tuyu on 2009-03-05 15:03 (Reply)

Lindesfarne, I was intrigued by your comment that property lines run to the end of your tree's root system. So, does that mean that properties grow as the home tree's do? What happens when the root systems of adjoining trees begin to intersect? If a tree dies due to disease or ligntning strike or whatever, do the owners generally replace it, or move elsewhere? If a new tree is planted, does the property line now shrink to the boundaries of the newly planted root ball?

Seems like humans aren't the only ones with complicated real estate systems!

#16 cfhuber on 2009-03-04 01:45 (Reply)

In the best of situations, your neighbors will also be your best of friends and a kind of understanding can be worked out...or even a neutral zone.

If the best situation can't occur, then the local government can come in and settle the issue. They might give the whole chunk to one party, split it...or, erm...take it for themselves.

There's other ways, too. Family feuds. Talk about a nasty, little war. Some end in the removal and take over of one side. Disownment's another. Sometimes, no parties want to debate the issue and just ignore the land even exists. Weeds are a telling sign of this arrangement. There's been a few other uncommon situations that can arrise, as well.

#16.1 jup-reindeer on 2009-03-05 04:24 (Reply)

If I may, not everyone on the Domain side of the portal lives in trees. Ms. Eyeshine, if I recall, lives in a non-tree home. I am sure there are others with similar dwellings. Of course, alternate methods have to be applied when addressing the property lines in these cases.

#17 Patch O'Black on 2009-03-05 13:41 (Reply)

The concepts of dividing land into plots, with defined borders, shouldn't be that alien to you. I mean, Domain has defined borders, right? Outside of Domain, you have other cities. Even if they're all part of the same region, they have different politicians in charge, different groups providing services like police and fire protection, right?

#18 Greg (Link) on 2009-03-05 20:14 (Reply)

I'm surprised, Lindesfarne, that there hasn't been talk about a massive overhaul in the taxation system among you folks.

Here in the USA on our world, the Internal Revenue Code (Title 26) is a ravenous, gigantic monster over 67,500 pages long devouring the economy that makes R.L. of Herdthinners seem like a minor event. Since under income taxation it tends to favor debt financing over cash payments, no wonder the world is having an economic meltdown.

I think it's WAY past due that tax reform should be #1 on everybody's agenda. We should create a tax system that favors savings and investment, something that right there would do enormous wonders for the economy.

#19 rayc on 2009-03-07 14:16 (Reply)

Man, these terrible economic times are hitting all of us. I have learn to really grow to dislike the stock market... Which begs the question, how does the stock market work in your side of the parallel universe?

#20 Brett R. on 2009-03-08 03:01 (Reply)

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