Is shrinking lots size going to fix housing affordability? (Post: apartments, insurance)

[Leonard123]

Originally Posted by Threestep2

What you do not like about your car you do not have to accept. Mine uses regular, has a cigarette lighter, manual windows and nothing to track it by. It does not talk, whistle or complain. What does every car on the market currently share?

Every new car on the market is way too big. They make them bigger and bigger, and they systematically seem to discontinue the next smallest model each year. This trend has been going on since the 1990s, and a smart solution was proposed then that fell on deaf ears.
https://unixpapa.com/cars.html

Do you propose people can build their own cars in different sizes?

We seem to have a similar problem with houses.

[Threestep2]

Originally Posted by Leonard123

Every new car on the market is way too big. They make them bigger and bigger, and they systematically seem to discontinue the next smallest model each year. This trend has been going on since the 1990s, and a smart solution was proposed then that fell on deaf ears.
https://unixpapa.com/cars.html

Do you propose people can build their own cars in different sizes?

We seem to have a similar problem with houses.

Maybe try a Fiat, a Prius, a Leaf or a Mini Cooper. You can always complement your tiny house with an electric bike. Or pony and cart and file ag exemption on the property.

[ChristieP]

Originally Posted by Leonard123

Every new car on the market is way too big. They make them bigger and bigger, and they systematically seem to discontinue the next smallest model each year. This trend has been going on since the 1990s, and a smart solution was proposed then that fell on deaf ears.
https://unixpapa.com/cars.html.

Wow. That is perhaps the dumbest article I’ve ever read. According to this, my husband is still allowed to keep his pickup truck since he uses it to work on our small farm, but I have to get rid of my SUV (which is 2-wheel drive) since I primarily drive on paved roads. Nevermind that I drive a SUV so I can carry a cooler to go to the grocery store, carry items needed for my job and volunteer work, and I also go to the feed store, too.

The Nissan Sentra, Toyota Corolla, and Honda Civic are all still being made. If you’re looking for a small, cheap car, those three are your best options. I have zero desire to drive a car that small, and it wouldn’t be able to do what I need it to do anyway.

[tcualum]

I agree. I first got an AWD car because we had a steep paved driveway and my regular car couldn't get up and down it when the weather was bad. Where we currently live is pretty hilly so we always have at least one AWD or 4WD car. While we only have 2 kids, my mother-in-law lives with us and can't drive. My sister stays with us 3 weeks every year. When we had a 3 row SUV we filled all 3 rows quite often. I miss having the space. When my kids were little having a minivan was wonderful because they could open and close the doors themselves and climb in and out of the car without help. That was very helpful when I sprained my ankle.

[Leonard123]

Originally Posted by Threestep2

Maybe try a Fiat, a Prius, a Leaf or a Mini Cooper. You can always complement your tiny house with an electric bike. Or pony and cart and file ag exemption on the property.

Originally Posted by ChristieP

Wow. That is perhaps the dumbest article I’ve ever read. According to this, my husband is still allowed to keep his pickup truck since he uses it to work on our small farm, but I have to get rid of my SUV (which is 2-wheel drive) since I primarily drive on paved roads. Nevermind that I drive a SUV so I can carry a cooler to go to the grocery store, carry items needed for my job and volunteer work, and I also go to the feed store, too.

The Nissan Sentra, Toyota Corolla, and Honda Civic are all still being made. If you’re looking for a small, cheap car, those three are your best options. I have zero desire to drive a car that small, and it wouldn’t be able to do what I need it to do anyway.

Those cars are all still too big and uncomfortable for me. The Corolla is too wide, and the Civic is too low and wide. They all need to be a lot narrower. I'd like a Smart car but gas-powered and with better acceleration. They are so cute!

[Threestep2]

Originally Posted by Leonard123

Those cars are all still too big and uncomfortable for me. The Corolla is too wide, and the Civic is too low and wide. They all need to be a lot narrower. I'd like a Smart car but gas-powered and with better acceleration. They are so cute!

New Balance makes them. They are called walking shoes.

How to fit a gun cart into a Smart? That might make a doctoral thesis.

[ChristieP]

Originally Posted by Leonard123

Those cars are all still too big and uncomfortable for me. The Corolla is too wide, and the Civic is too low and wide. They all need to be a lot narrower.

This does make sense since you don’t drive on highways… but for the rest of Texas, those cars are tiny!!!

[rabbit33]

Originally Posted by Threestep2

What you do not like about your car you do not have to accept. Mine uses regular, has a cigarette lighter, manual windows and nothing to track it by. It does not talk, whistle or complain. What does every car on the market currently share?

Does it also have up to date computerized control of fuel/air/ignition? A full complement of air bags? 30 MPG in mixed driving? Modern emission controls?

[rabbit33]

Originally Posted by Threestep2

What you do not like about your car you do not have to accept. Mine uses regular, has a cigarette lighter, manual windows and nothing to track it by. It does not talk, whistle or complain. What does every car on the market currently share?

And, you're deflecting attention away from the immediate point posters here have with you - your insistence that "no one's forcing you to buy a [open floor plan, larger than you want, etc.] house with design you don't like".

Yes, in theory that's true: but you refuse to accept that for the vast majority of people there are practical limitations.

If I have a job in a particular location, a spouse with a job in a particular location, children with specific educational needs, want to live in a place that's relatively safe, and I have limited funds, then it's very likely that there are only a small number of house locations that meet my needs for rational commutes for two spouses (plus access to day care and other matters), appropriate schools, general safety, and budget. If all the houses in those areas are of a particular design type, I'm either going to make compromises on other matters and buy elsewhere (excessive commutes? Bad schools? High crime?), or I"m going to grit my teeth and compromise on the design of the house.

It is a complete fantasy to imagine that someone who's gritted their teeth, compromised and bought a house of a type they don't really want, is now going to live in a hotel for 6 months and spend half again the cost of the place to completely redesign, rebuild, remodel it to make fundamental changes in its layout. (And of course, if you really want a 1/10 acre zero-lot-line and you grit your teeth and settle for a 1/4 acre rambler because that's what's available within the above constraints, you couldn't turn it into a 1/10 acre zero-lot-line even if you DID have near-infinite time energy and resources).

You need to lift your head up and look at how actual people live and how actual people make choices in their actual real lives, not in your fantasy.

[tickyul]

It just may make owning and living in a home as gross, irritating, inconvenient and noisy as
what apartment-living is much of the time.