Sony Lounge Thread MKIII (All Sony cameras welcome)

Auckland is just as bad, its crazy now. People are having to borrow 7-8 times salary to get a place.

My house has over tripled in 18 years. My kids have no chance of buying

I used to say one day ill own a home here in nyc(queens ny to be specific)…

I laugh at that dream now.. so we stay in a little one bedroom co-op.. paid in full, no backyard , no man cave for me its more like a man corner in the living room.. but the way homes , no matter how modest in any decent neighborhood are priced , i'd have to become an overtime slave at work to own a home

rantercsr wrote in post #18925316
I used to say one day ill own a home here in nyc(queens ny to be specific)…

I laugh at that dream now.. so we stay in a little one bedroom co-op.. paid in full, no backyard , no man cave for me its more like a man corner in the living room.. but the way homes , no matter how modest in any decent neighborhood are priced , i'd have to become an overtime slave at work to own a home

When the kids left we moved to a 850 sq ft house near downtown phoenix. People look at me like I am crazy to live in such a small space. I wish I had all my life. I need less space less things and more adventure.

My buddy Ash posing in the backyard

I'm pretty grateful to own a home with manageable mortgage in Socal, got in right at the best moment when housing tanked, my home value nearly doubled in seven years..... now I can no longer buy in my own area unless it drops again. My brother got a place near Bankstown in AUS, paid 1M+, he's royally screwed. If he leaves the house, bye bye equity, and if he sells, bye bye equity because it's on a slight downturn. Just wait it out a bit, save up, and when people start to abandon the market, that's time to get in. Seems simple, but not knowing where the bottom is can be scary.

Charlie wrote in post #18925328
I'm pretty grateful to own a home with manageable mortgage in Socal, got in right at the best moment when housing tanked, my home value nearly doubled in seven years..... now I can no longer buy in my own area unless it drops again. My brother got a place near Bankstown in AUS, paid 1M+, he's royally screwed. If he leaves the house, bye bye equity, and if he sells, bye bye equity because it's on a slight downturn. Just wait it out a bit, save up, and when people start to abandon the market, that's time to get in. Seems simple, but not knowing where the bottom is can be scary.

Sadly 1.5+M is the price of an average home in Vancouver BC. Leaves little room to buy camera gear

see thats what I say..

I could buy a house.. but then everything else comes to a grinding halt.. hobbies , vacations etc.. if I had small children .. then yes i'd do it ,, but my son I s a grown man.

i'd rather live a bit cramped but be able to have my hobbies and go on vacations etc..

rantercsr wrote in post #18925336
see thats what I say..

I could buy a house.. but then everything else comes to a grinding halt.. hobbies , vacations etc.. if I had small children .. then yes i'd do it ,, but my son I s a grown man.

i'd rather live a bit cramped but be able to have my hobbies and go on vacations etc..

You're in a different stage in life than me. I have 3 young kids, house and fun hobbies while still being in less debt than most my age. Always grateful!!

My kids will not be able to afford to live in Vancouver the way real estate prices are.

David Arbogast wrote in post #18924879
I’m going to step in it again and make another cropping comment. I really like this one Carlo...the tree trunks do some interesting work of some internal framing setting the stage for your daughter’s portrait. But, that tree trunk sliver in the bottom-right corner needs to go.

Beautiful work w/ your new lens Carlo...looks like it’s a fantastic fit for your needs and I’m really liking the rendering. It’s not buttery smooth, it’s gritty, edgy, with just a little touch of 3d. The Home Depot hands shot looks cool 3d. (reminder to self: I need to buy home depot shares).

Thanks David. Yes its a cool little lens. Rendering is a bit on the gritty side as you say, so I doubt this will be my go-to for outdoor posed portraits. I just sold my FE35 ZAto Travis, so at some point I'll probably be adding the Sigma to my kit. (need to buy a car first).

And thanks for the critique on the photo. It definitely should be cropped in. It'll chop the harsh bokeh in the corners off too

I feel I'm extremely fortunate to have been able to purchase a mobile home on land 15 years ago. It's in a neighborhood, not a park. I have sidewalks and curbs and no space number. Now that I'm retired, I'm glad to own a home with little maintenence. I have no garage but do have a small workshop with power and a large covered carport. There is also a large, covered patio for grilling or just enjoying a sunrise or sunset.

Oh, my monthly mortgage payment is less than my car payment at just under $600. per month.

The fact that laypeople cannot afford to buy a home is a bad sign. It's true measure of the level of inflation global currencies have been facing. CPI is BS. We're dealing with the side effects of artificially propping the financial markets up with ridiculously low interest rates for over a decade. Basically the price of anything that laypeople cannot afford to buy outright inflated to ridiculous levels...housing, education, etc.

Either we've created another housing bubble....or the wealth gap has grown so wide that the middle can no longer afford the basic standard of living previous generations enjoyed. I think its both, but the fact is that the middle class has gotten punched in the gut...wages have stagnated while the cost of living has skyrocketed.....so people these days dedicate much more of their income to servicing debt vs building wealth....and the residual effects are starting to reverberate elsewhere (malls/retail, auto industry, etc) in the economy because people don't have the disposable income that they used to.

mystik610 wrote in post #18925355
I'll probably be adding the Sigma to my kit.

Having both would be amazing.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

In other news I’m having a harder time selling my FE 50 1.4 ZA than any lens I’ve ever put on the market.

mystik610 wrote in post #18925355
Thanks David. Yes its a cool little lens. Rendering is a bit on the gritty side as you say, so I doubt this will be my go-to for outdoor posed portraits. I just sold my FE35 ZAto Travis, so at some point I'll probably be adding the Sigma to my kit. (need to buy a car first).

And thanks for the critique on the photo. It definitely should be cropped in. It'll chop the harsh bokeh in the corners off too

and now I gotta unload the 50Art, considering moving the 135L, but have a couple of family sessions coming up and don't want to be without it...maybe after fall family season it will go to make room for the FE version...

navydoc wrote in post #18925359
I feel I'm extremely fortunate to have been able to purchase a mobile home on land 15 years ago. It's in a neighborhood, not a park. I have sidewalks and curbs and no space number. Now that I'm retired, I'm glad to own a home with little maintenence. I have no garage but do have a small workshop with power and a large covered carport. There is also a large, covered patio for grilling or just enjoying a sunrise or sunset.

Oh, my monthly mortgage payment is less than my car payment at just under $600. per month.

we bought our place 12 years ago...its not fancy, its not big...but it is in a good central location and values here have come back up...at one point a couple years ago it was worth less than half what we paid for it in 2007...which was scary as hell because in 2010 I was fearing layoffs in an industry that had no jobs...but this year we renovated the whole first floor...and I have been working on the outside too...we like it, and we are not going anywhere...

David Arbogast wrote in post #18925364
Having both would be amazing.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

In other news I’m having a harder time selling my FE 50 1.4 ZA than any lens I’ve ever put on the market.

I wonder why...I am sure I will eventually end up with one...just can't take it off your hands right now...

I have not done much black and white from my trip...but shot a couple of these on Ruby Beach with that intention...rather than working the incoming waves, I was looking more at the ripples in the sand left behind, catching it still soaking wet with a good reflection.

Ripples

navydoc wrote in post #18925359
I feel I'm extremely fortunate to have been able to purchase a mobile home on land 15 years ago. It's in a neighborhood, not a park. I have sidewalks and curbs and no space number. Now that I'm retired, I'm glad to own a home with little maintenence. I have no garage but do have a small workshop with power and a large covered carport. There is also a large, covered patio for grilling or just enjoying a sunrise or sunset.

Oh, my monthly mortgage payment is less than my car payment at just under $600. per month.

Hosted photo: posted by navydoc in
./showthread.php?p=189​25359&i=i165543703
forum: Sony Digital Cameras

Your house is a mobile home?! I had no idea. I love the way your house and neighborhood looks.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

This cost of living thing is the biggest reason my wife and I hope to settle in Mexico. Houses are affordable, property taxes negligible, utilities and healthcare costs very low (especially areas like Ajijic with perfect climates that don’t need AC and very little heat), and food is 1/3 the cost of the US.

Another reason is that being bilingual has been proven to be excellent for brain health. My mom has alzheimers and I want to fight getting that myself with diet, exercise, growing new neurons, etc. My wife and I will always be English speakers, but to also be a functional Spanish speaker we need that same immersive experience in a Spanish-speaking world as we’ve had with English.