#rent real estate in Japan

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部屋探し｜Apartment Hunting

Let me share with you my current struggles on finding a place to stay in Japan with this long vocabulary list!

住宅（じゅうたく）housing, residential building

住宅街（じゅうたくがい）residential area

最寄り駅（もよりえき）nearest train station

共同住宅（きょうどうじゅうたく）residential complex, apartment house

不動産屋（ふどうさんや）real estate agent

物件（ぶっけん）object, property (real estate)

ネット上（じょう）on the internet

掲載する（けいさい）post, insert (advertisement)

家賃（やちん）rent

共益費（きょうえきひ）common fee, utility fee

加算する（かさん）add

月額（げつがく）monthly amount

初期費用（しょきひよう）initial costs

入居する（にゅうきょ）move into

翌月（よくげつ）next month

翌月分（よくげつぶん）next month's rent

礼金（れいきん）key money (fee paid for rental rights)

敷金（しききん）deposit

保証金（ほしょうきん）deposit

清掃費（せいそうひ）cleaning fee

火災保険料（かさいほけんりょう）fire insurance fee

内見（ないけん）viewing

賃貸（ちんたい）lease, rent

賃貸借契約（ちんたいしゃけいやく）rental contract

借り主（かりぬし）debtor, tenant

貸主（かしぬし）lender, landlord

大家さん（おおや）landlord

一時に（いちどき）at once

滞納（たいのう）falling behind (with a payment)

Moving into a Japanese property comes with high initial costs which can be broken down into numerous different fees. Unfortunately, share houses are not necessarily fully excluded from this, but it really depends on the company. I'm glad that I could take some time to work and save up money before going to Japan. The first month will be very expensive.

[bootleg-nessie]

Things that will happen in the future (based on my own experiences with time travel):

***FAQs at the end***

*All of these observations are copied directly from my notes in roughly the order I took them in

*Don’t ask about the interchanging use of past/present/future tense, you know how that stuff is with time travel

Women just started all growing three boobs instead of two. Scientists baffled

Genetically engineered catboys (no literally)

The great pyramid of Giza has been converted into a Bass Pro Shop

The entire state of Rhode Island was bought by some rich tech CEO who promptly dug a 500 foot wide trench around the entire state so that it could in fact be an island. It was soon converted into the world’s largest parking lot

Pollution has gotten so bad that fresh oxygen is now delivered straight to most homes via a subscription service

Basic necessities such as food, water, and housing are now provided for free by the government, but only for the top 1% of wealth holders

Insulin now costs twice as much as rent. “Get fucked,” say pharma companies

92.6% of new electronic appliances now have smartphone integration and require a monthly subscription to use

Most billionaires have real estate on earth’s moon

As an ongoing film experiment, Taika Waititi successfully convinced a Nebraska man that he’s been raptured and is now in heaven. He actually got Truman Show’d and now millions of viewers tune in every week to watch God (played by John DiMaggio) manipulate Robert into confronting his own views, battle cognitive dissonance, and face the realization that he might not have been as good of a person on Earth as he thought he was

Carrots have gone extinct, as have highland cows

Species of extinct animals and plants now are being posthumously renamed after the billionaires and elites most directly responsible for killing then off

Researchers discovered a sentient colony of fungus off the coast of Chile, it prefers to go by Fleebo and appears to have a incredibly complex intelligence far greater than any other observed organic being

Nobody knows where Ireland went. It literally just disappeared off the face of the earth one day and nobody bothered to question it. The story couldn’t compete in the news cycle with the recent news about a company in China that made the first real life pokemon. An entire civilization of people gone and I’m the only one who seems to remember it or even care

Fleebo and its offspring have annexed Madagascar and are threatening any retaliation with nuclear warfare and “making The Last of Us a reality.” Nobody knows if Fleebo actually has the capabilities to do this, but after the Lovecraft incident we’re all TOO goddam scared to fuck around and find out

Large snails have replaced cats and dogs as the most common household pet. Snail culture has largely taken over the world, especially Japan

The president of the United States is now decided with an oiled up twerking competition. Most people were hesitant at first but this has produced vastly more competent leaders so now everyone just kinda goes along with it

With the cost of living crisis only worsening with time, selling tattoo space on your body to advertisers has become common as people struggle to afford rent and pay their bills

North and South Korea have reunited into “Korea 2.0”

Germany has split up into East and West Germany again

Belgium and France have been annexed by West Germany and renamed “Wester Germany” and “Westest Germany” respectively

The entirety of Florida is now underwater. Most of Kansas is too for some reason that scientists refuse to explain because they’ve “sworn an oath to the eldritch gods” and that “much worse things would happen” if they did

The melting ice caps in Antarctica unveiled a lost civilization of intelligent creatures descended from a species of lungfish, predating human civilization by millions of years. They planned on hibernating for another 10-15 million years to observe the course of evolution on Earth and are very very angry at humans for waking them up prematurely and ruining all of that with global warming

The politically correct term for lungfish people is “Dipnoid” but most people refer to them by a variety of slurs, such as “finwalker” and “kelp muncher” (not that they even eat kelp)

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch has now increased to nearly half the size of what was formerly known as Canada and has been colonized entirely by pirates (the flag is actually pretty cool). The pirate nation has the 17th largest economy in the world and is projected to surpass the United States in GDP

Africa is about 2% smaller. Nobody knows why. Most people point to Fleebo, who denies having any involvement

All human-Dipnoid interaction was promptly banned by most world governments, except for the GPGPRP (Great Pacific Garbage Patch Republic of Pirates), whom the Dipnoids rely upon extensively for trade

Scientists have used DNA from fossils to recreate other species of humans. We now live alongside them like we did for thousands of years before everyone besides Homo sapiens went extinct. Racism is at an all time high

Class C and above robots are now legally recognized by most progressive countries as people

The United States government has been exposed for secretly funneling billions of dollars into the GPGPRP and using it to fund terrorist operations all over the world.

A new major religion revolving around Dave Grohl has skyrocketed in popularity. Grohilsm is now the world’s largest religion, second only to Fleeboism

Scientists discovered a new continent in the Pacific Ocean, and then promptly lost it again. Most people are convinced this was just an elaborate practical joke, but scientists “swear it definitely happened”

For a brief period of about 30 years, everything in George Orwell’s 1984 happened almost exactly as written in the book. Literally 1984

It was revealed that Jeff Epstein didn’t kill himself. He actually faked his death and spent the next few years in a drug-fueled episode of psychosis making sock puppets in a cave in Italy and then molesting said sock puppets until he died from a sock puppet related illness

Bigfoot was discovered off the coast of Georgia doing cocaine with a congregation of alligators. When questioned, he said he normally lives in Montana and was only there on vacation. He is now a celebrity, and has been featured in a number of tv shows and films, two of which he won an Oscar for. Last I checked, he was a washed up actor living in Hollywood with a reanimated Neanderthal woman

The GPGPRP raided most of England’s museums with the object of “doing exactly what they did for the last few centuries” England was understandably furious, but the rest of the world found it rather amusing

England declared war on the GPGPRP, which it promptly lost after hackers brought down the entire country’s military overnight. Much like in the 21st century, England is the world’s laughing stock

The entirety of Luxembourg relocated itself to the moon

Russia attempted to take over most of Eurasia. In retaliation to the full global effort to stop them, they launched nukes at the world’s 600 most populous cities outside of its current territory. Most of the warheads were stopped in time, but a few major metropolitan areas got hit pretty badly, including Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Chengdu, Mexico City, and Istanbul. Japan was understandably super pissed that Hiroshima and Nagasaki got nuked for a second time

In the wake of the nuclear holocaust, Canada assumed control over what was formerly Russia and assimilated many of its citizens and leaders into its own society and government. Under the new rule of formerly Russian leaders, Canada became a puppet state for the second coming of Russia. It annexed much of the United States, Mongolia, China, and a handful of other countries, becoming “the world’s first megacountry.” Crungolaska now controls a majority of the northern hemisphere

As part of a practical joke by Adam Sandler, Tom Hanks was actually marooned on a desert island like in Castaway. He lasted less than a week before he died. When I left this era of the future, Adam Sandler was serving a lifetime sentence in prison for murder

Fringe groups of crows with above-average intelligence have started popping up around the world. So far they have been observed forming small communities, crafting relatively complex tools, using rudimentary speech, performing rituals, and creating music

Aliens visited earth and had a formal meeting with many of our world leaders, but decided to leave us alone for a few thousand more years because humanity is “not yet mature enough to handle the responsibilities of interstellar travel.” They have incentivized us with a the blueprints for an Alcubierre Drive and a means to produce the exotic matter to fuel it once they deem us as being ready

The original colony of settlers on Mars has declared independence, officially becoming the first country not on Earth

We sent Tom Cruise back to space but this time we just left him there

The tether for the space elevator broke. The town known as Vatorville, famous for being the location of the takeoff point of the elevator shuttle on Earth, was completely decimated as tens of thousands of miles of steel cable came crashing back down. There were no survivors

Most people in first and second world countries have mandatory microchip implants that serve as a personal ID

Last Thursdayism has been largely denounced by quantum physicists. Current theories now revolve around “Next Thursdayism,” the belief that the entire universe was created in the future and that we all exist as a memory in the past

Synthetic organ farms for transplants and research have become a massive industry worth billions of dollars. However, there is still a huge black market for organically grown human organs, as they’re much cheaper to acquire and aren’t taxed at the exorbitant rates that lab-grown organs are

China dug a hole all the way to the center of the Earth. Turns out it’s hollow and there are people living inside. Who knew?

A university reconstructed the entire city of Rome as it was in its early days during the Roman Empire. It’s actually pretty historically accurate, except for the fact that there’s a lot less sex because it’s run by a bunch of sweaty history nerds

After Rome 2 resulted in the creation of a cult revolving around the Roman god of the dead that gained traction as a minor religion, Pluto was officially reinstated as a planet by NASA when cultists picketed their headquarters every day for nearly 3 years straight. “Fine, we’ll give these fucking virgins what they want so they’ll finally shut the hell up,” said NASA’s administrator in chief

In a display of the biotechnical prowess of Disney’s Imagineers, all the animatronics in Disney’s Hall of Presidents were replaced with clones of the originals, which went about exactly as well as you’d expect. After reports of the presidents hurling a series of racial slurs and other obscenities at the first black family to enter surfaced, the project was shut down almost immediately after it had opened. Minority admission to Magic Kingdom plummeted to 2.3% of its numbers from the previous year, making it the second whitest place on earth after a taylor swift concert

Plastic now makes up about 3% of every organism on earth by weight

Public officials are now required by law to take shrooms before running for office

Trees are considered a rare and highly sought after commodity, and are usually only owned by public institutions and the rich (the vast majority of oxygen farms use algae to produce oxygen)

FAQs:

FAQ: What time period(s) did you go to?

A: I have no fucking clue. The world stopped using the Gregorian calendar in 2063 after a gamma ray burst hit the sun. The GRB led to stellar ablation, which changed the length of a year on Earth. The sun would continue to lose mass at an accelerated rate for several more years, with the length of the year changing slightly from year to year. The world adopted a variety of different calendars which kept being updated frequently and were often super confusing and contradictory. I traveled to about a dozen different points in time, which based on my best estimates spanned within a few millennia of the current date.

FAQ: How did you obtain a time machine?

A: I think it was the 17th or 18th of June, 2055? That night, a large sci-fi looking box thingy roughly the size of a VW Bus appeared a few hundred yards away in the open field in front of my house. I tried to take a picture of the box, but for some reason the closer I got, the more the image on my camera started to become fuzzy, and by the time I got close enough to take a decent picture, the camera had stopped working altogether. I pulled open a door to reveal a corpse inside that was charred beyond recognition, who appeared to have suffocated and/or burned to death during a fire that damaged most of the interior. I also noticed a number of strange tumors and growths on the body. I pressed a random button on the remains of what I believed to be a control panel, expecting nothing to happen, but the door closed automatically and I suddenly lost consciousness. When I came to, I exited the box, expecting to still be in the field in front of my house, but instead found myself a ways outside of a small snowy village that based on my best estimates, was somewhere in northern Asia around 2-3 thousand years ago. The villagers started coming after me with spears, so I quickly ran back to the box and pressed another button, hoping it would return me to from whence I came. This time, the people I found (who were thankfully much nicer and spoke a dialect of English that I could mostly understand) told me that it was the year 506 of the PGRB-Δ4 calendar (the calendar that the United Territories was using at the time). I repeated this maybe a dozen more times trying to get home until I landed in 2023, which as far as I could tell, was the closest I had gotten back to my original time so far. It was at this point that I decided to stay and seek medical attention, as I was rather concerned about some nasty new growths on my arms and legs similar to that which I had seen on the corpse.

FAQ: Where is the time machine now?

A: No idea. It disappeared a few days after I landed in 2023. My best guess is that some poor sap found it and ended up sometime else.

(I never ask for likes/reblogs but I literally spent fucking WEEKS on this one so if you liked it pls show me some love <3)

[thistransient]

More musings on Naha:

- My Japan-visiting history includes Naha in 2018 and Tokyo in 2023 (each for 3 nights). I loved Naha the first time, but did not really have the same feeling about Tokyo (which I chalked up to insufficient planning, sprained ribs, and having gotten over the first-time-in-Japan thrill). But I also loved my second time in Naha! The factors I think are at play:

1. Public transport: there's a singular monorail, no need to navigate Tokyo's convoluted two-company labyrinth of an MRT system. It was also a brisk 12 minute ride from the station nearest my hotel to Naha International, unlike the commute from the city center to the airports servicing Tokyo. It's also only a 1 hr 30 minute flight from Taipei, can't really beat that.

2. Walkability: to get anywhere else in Okinawa one must rent a car, but it's perfectly possible to stroll around Naha center on foot. I spent quite a bit of time on the train in Tokyo (and all that that entailed) trying to explore different neighborhoods, which was tiring. I didn't feel threatened by motorised traffic in either city but I found myself jumping out of the way of bicycles in Tokyo a few times.

3. Shīsā (シーサー, 風獅爺, 獅子): "a traditional Ryukyuan cultural artifact and decoration derived from Chinese guardian lions, often seen in similar pairs, resembling a cross between a lion and a dog, from Okinawan mythology. Shisa are wards, believed to protect from some evils. People place pairs of shisa on their rooftops or flanking the gates to their houses, with the left shisa traditionally having a closed mouth, the right one an open mouth. The open mouth shisa traditionally wards off evil spirits, and the closed mouth shisa keeps good spirits in." I love these things so much, they are so fun to spot while walking around, people even dress them up in little outfits depending on the season!

(At this point I should optimally visit a third city to triangulate my experiences a bit.)

- I find if I only go somewhere for a few days, it can be really nice to not buy a SIM card, just download an offline map, save some restaurant locations, and wander around looking at stuff almost like the pre-smartphone days.

- At some point I was also thinking to myself "wow, sometimes it's nice being in a country with minimal hawkers, hustlers, and touts! No one is trying to sell me stuff unsolicited!" Then I accidentally wandered into the red light district while taking a roundabout stroll to a shrine on the edge of town. The deserted back streets of Naha sprang to life and suddenly I was very popular (I suppose it must get boring for them at noon on a Sunday, but I felt like a lone gazelle on the savanna and made a hasty escape with a lot of head shaking and staring intently at the pavement). Perhaps they intentionally put the brothels near the temple to ensnare wayward tourists, who knows.

- The silence of Naha streets compared to the incessant scooter-revving in Taipei made me wonder how much psychic damage the noise pollution is really dealing me on a daily basis. I was also operating with a Taiwanese mindset when jaywalking across a median to get to a supermarket (only because I'd seen some locals doing it), and stepped back cautiously to wait for an oncoming bus which I was sure would otherwise punch me a one-way ticket to the afterlife. Instead, it STOPPED. There wasn't even a cross-walk! I waved somewhat guiltily and scampered away full of wonderment. Frankly I did not really want to come back from pedestrian heaven where there are zero scooters on the unobstructed sidewalks and crossing the street is not a hair-raising experience.

- By sheer, strange coincidence I ran into a friend on the street (as she was getting off a bus), who definitely should not have been in Japan (she told me she was moving back, probably to Tokyo, only after Christmas)- she was in Okinawa for approximately 24 hours to look at real estate and didn't have time to hang out but it was very surreal to catch up for a couple minutes.

- I was a bit surprised when the airline queue employee in International Departures started talking to me in Japanese off the bat (something that has never happened in TPE with Mandarin, they see a westerner and have real low linguistic expectations), so I eyed her a bit blankly til she was done and then tested out my Duolingo skills with 日本語が話せませ¹ to which she responded 英語?², I said "yeah" and she told me I needed to use the kiosk first, to which I protested that I'm always prompted to go to the counter for document verification, but then for once the thing actually didn't (take note if you're doing visa runs, Peach Aviation evidently gives no shits about exit flights). ¹ I don't speak Japanese ² English?

To be honest I had had some ambitions for trying out more Duolingo-learnt phrases, but in the moment chickened out and ended up just pointing at stuff lest I give the impression I was capable of more in-depth conversation beyond これをください³. I've had vague thoughts about language school (for the purpose of being able to communicate about print-making and/or shibari, but also to test the waters beyond the tourist experience), and I feel in theory knowing Mandarin first should help with learning kanji, but on the other hand I look at this

and in my mind it says "Jiùmìng dòngyī wa zuòxí no xià ni aimasu". I think I will stay in Taiwan for now. (Also apparently immigration is not super keen on people over 30 with dubious employment history rocking up for language school in Japan, but that's a bridge to cross when one comes to it). ³ Please give me this

- Last but not least, I flew back south only to find Taipei 5 degrees Celsius colder than Naha, the bidet frostier than ever. 再見琉球，等我回來 T_T

[centrally-unplanned]

I wanted to respond to this post from a bit ago, because I thought it was a good challenge. Certainly Japan is a wildly different country from the US, so the way it can be used sometimes as a "YIMBY model" can often be naïve. It is not YIMBY in many ways, for sure. Cowen sets out a list of ways Japan either isn't YIMBY or would have other reasons for its lower rents; as he puts it:

Yet the more I think about it, the more I tend to believe a very different proposition: Japan is in key ways a very NIMBY country, and its brand of NIMBYism has keeps real estate prices down. A corollary is this: YIMBYism gets much less credit for low Tokyo real estate prices, and furthermore the low real estate prices are a sign of something having gone wrong on the productivity side, in large part due to regulation.

So lets see how it holds up:

1. Japan has had very tough immigration restrictions.  This has eased considerably, but a) the stock matters not just the flow, and b) current Japanese migrants often are from countries such as Thailand and the Philippines, which fills in for some mid-level jobs, but does not massively boost rents.

Meh - True, though its more cultural then legal imo. But we aren't talking about Japan, we are talking about Tokyo. Tokyo has has large amounts of internal migration from the rest of Japan; meanwhile its not like NYC's net population has increased dramatically in the past 20 years from immigration. Unless immigrations have magic rent soil I'm not seeing this.

2. It is extremely difficult to learn written Japanese.  Among its other effects, this discourages high-value immigrants from settling into very high productivity service jobs in Tokyo or in Japan more generally.

Meh - definitely true! Japan needs language reform lol. But like above, immigration isn't magic rent soil, its about net people.

3. Various regulatory and legal decisions have prevented Tokyo from developing into the financial capital of Asia (haven’t you wondered  about this?).  I won’t go into all the detail here, this is the modern world so just ask ChatGPT.  I’m sure you all know that major financial centers usually lead to exorbitant rents, due to the opportunity cost of the land.

Boo - so I literally asked ChatGPT, since I was curious, and I got absolutely nothing - just vague platitudes and literally some of the other reasons from this list, like "It lacks immigration". I don't doubt some of this is true, but I don't think its a load bearing reason it isn't a financial center. Or at least don't be lazy and tell us what they are.

Which I think is relevant, to be clear - but I think might be a bit more endogenous than the article is letting on. The inability to financialize rents in Tokyo might in fact be a reason its less of a financial center!

4. So, so much of Japanese regulatory policy and culture is geared toward maintaining small retail businesses, super small in scale, and low in productivity.  They do not place much upward pressure on rents.  By the way, this is one reason why tourists find Tokyo so wonderful, but those enterprises lower productivity considerably relative to say Walmarts.  It is no accident that so many Japanese examples populate “Markets in Everything,” that they have cat and furry cafes, and so on.

Probably True - I think he is exaggerating, and like "culture" is doing a lot of work here, but its definitely true that Japan has large small business orgs that work hand-in-hand with government to shape the urban ecology for them. The big companies are doing their own thing of course, but I am open this idea for sure. Japan's business-political complex is very vast.

But of course it might all just be downstream of the rents; if rent is low, you can build whatever.

Overall, I think meh? But I think a better argument could be made - we do need more detailed understandings of how Japan's real estate market functions in relation to its urban planning. I see one or the other in a box a lot, but the interaction I think should be dug into more.

[classicdatabase]

CD Entry #005

Released in 1993 exclusively in Japan, the Famicom board game-style spinoff of the classic series, Wily & Right no Rockboard: That’s Paradise! is notable for several reasons. While it is far from the most obscure Mega Man game, it is certainly the most overlooked of the 8-Bit era, and a majority of non-Japanese fans likely have only a vague knowledge of the title. As such, this entry will cover several miscellaneous tidbits related to Rockboard, as well as its impact on the later series.

Rockboard, as a general overview, is a digital board game commonly likened to Fortune Street or Monopoly. Players compete to purchase ownership of property spaces and accumulate money through charging rent on other players, though there are also a number of cards one can randomly obtain with varying effects.

This premise is, on its surface, completely unrelated to the Mega Man universe, and could be misjudged as a generic tie-in. However, in actuality, Rockboard introduces enough classic series charm that it actually established aspects to later reappear in the more well-known entries. ‘Zenny’, for instance, is a reoccurring currency in many Capcom titles, but first made its debut into Mega Man serving as the money in this game. It would later appear prominently in the two spinoff series of Mega Man Legends and Mega Man Battle Network respectively. The mechanic of cards is also one rich with charm, as they are all effects based on, and using sprites of, characters from throughout the series up to that point. Game Boy exclusive characters such as Quint and Enker had their only Famicom appearance in Rockboard, as well as the bird robot Reggae, who was created for and first appears in this game; he appears both as a card that deals negative effects as well as a visual to taunt the losing player. Reggae would make his next appearance two years later as the invalid password icon in Mega Man 7, and after that became an infrequent support robot to Bass much the same way Beat is to Mega Man.

One of the most obvious oddities with this title comes with the very characters you play the game with. Despite the game’s name, Mega Man only serves as a sort of host and mascot, introducing game rules and appearing on the results screen but not taking part in the game directly. In his absence, players choose from any of the named human characters in the series up to that point, including consistent antagonist Dr. Wily, as well as Roll, the only playable robot. The game’s loose plot justifies this as each of the five having their own ambitions, from world domination to becoming a princess, that all happen to require building up their own real estate and acquiring plenty of funding. These characters also get plenty of dialogue throughout a match reacting to the various goings-on, though little of it is of any substance besides conveying game information. Still, Rockboard marks the first time that these characters’ personalities are elaborated on to this extent within the game itself.

To conclude, it’s somewhat common knowledge at this point (but still very much worth noting) that Rockboard was intended to receive a full port to Game Boy, making it the only Famicom Mega Man game to receive this treatment as opposed to a ‘Mega Man World’ game. This port was mostly completed, even having full battery saving compatibility, but was shelved for reasons not fully known.

Thankfully, this version of the game has been preserved through 2020’s Nintendo Gigaleak, and can be played through emulation or a flash cart today. Famicom Rockboard itself does have a rough, yet functional English fan translation that can also be played in the same manner, so even though the game has never received an official re-release, anyone intrigued by either version of this under-appreciated title is able and free to play it in the modern day; even you, the reader!

[redsamuraiii]

Shojiki Fudosan Season 2 (2024) by NHK

The chaotic duo, Tomohisa Yamashita (Alice in Borderland) and Haruka Fukuhara (Good Morning Call) returns as real estate salespeople who struggle to get customers and properties.

Tomohisa Yamashita plays a pro salesman, Nagase Zaichi, who got the highest commission among the salespeople for lying to his customers and tricking them into buying properties.But a curse has fallen upon him that he can't lie anymore and must figure out ways of selling without lying.

Haruka Fukuhara plays a newbie , Sakura Tsukishita, who recently joined the company as the youngest salesperson that struggles to learn the ropes of selling to customers as she constantly got pulled into the shenanigans pulled by Nagase, as she helped him clean up the mess caused by him.

A lighthearted drama about two chaotic salespeople working in a wacky work environment where everyone wants to be the top salesperson. A good drama which gives you a glimpse of what it's like to buy or rent a house in Japan, the challenges and problems that comes along with them.

[theculturedmarxist]

By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

This post was motivated by “The Obama Factor“, a long and rambling Q&A between Pulitzer-winning historian and Obama biographer David Garrow, and David Samuels, the Tablet’s Literary Editor. Garrow and Samuels answer the question posed in the headline in the affirmative; basically, “quite possibly, yes.” Spoiler: By Betteridge’s Law, my answer is “No,” but with significant qualifications. 

Most of the reactions to “The Obama Factor” — which focuses primarily on the irresistible rise of a fabulist creep who had written not one but two autobiographies by the age of 47, both in election years — have focused on Obama’s sensational fantasy life. In fact, I can only find serious reaction pieces from FOX and the New York Post; nothing from the other side of the aisle at all, and since the piece has been out for two weeks, I assume there won’t be (and if it were easy, the takedowns and the dogpiling would already have happened). Nobody seems to have focused on the most provocative part of “The Obama Factor”: Why Obama remained in Washington, DC, bought a mansion, and what he’s been doing with his time there[1]. In this post, I will take a first cut at explaining that.

I will first look at Obama’s neighborhood: Kalorama. Then I will look at his mansion, and what he is known to have done there. I will then present a great slab of Garrow and Samuels, who present the thesis that Obama is running a shadow government long form. I will conclude by briefly critiquing that thesis. 

The Neighborhood: Kalorama

Here is a map[2] of Kalorama:

From Washington Socialist:

As locals will remind you, Kalorama comprises two separate neighborhoods: Kalorama Heights (also known as Sheridan-Kalorama) and, to its northeast, Kalorama Triangle.

 The Obamas live to the Northeast, in the Kalorama Triangle. Kalorama has always been full of rich people:

Kalorama emerged relatively late as central DC neighborhoods went and was not extensively developed until the very end of the 19th century. It quickly attracted the wealthy and well-connected who built or purchased lavish mansions or fashionable rowhouses.

But now Kalorama is full of nouveaux riche[3] as well. From Trulia, “The Real Estate Voyeur’s Guide to Kalorama Heights, Washington D.C.’s Most Bipartisan Neighborhood“:

Shortly after the 2016 presidential election, Kalorama, Washington D.C.—a small and tranquil neighborhood located northwest of Dupont Circle—suddenly transformed into the epicenter of wealthy and political elites in D.C. First former President Barack Obama and wife Michelle announced they were moving into an 8,200 square-foot home in the area (which they’ve confirmed they are buying). Next, Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos purchased a $23 million Kalorama house—the largest private home in the entire city. Earlier this year, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson purchased a $5.5 million property. And most recently—and prominently—current First Family members Ivanka Trump and husband Jared Kushner began renting a 6,870 square-foot property in the neighborhood.

(Bezos is the dude with twenty-five bathrooms; Jared and Ivanka are already fighting with the neighbors.)

Kalorama is also full of embassies. From the Washington Diplomat:

[There are] 28 embassies in Washington’s well-heeled Kalorama neighborhood…. Embassies there include Algeria, Belize, Estonia, Greece, Japan, Latvia, Slovenia, Turkey, Madagascar, Mali and Syria. A variety of ambassador residences also call the tony neighborhood home — among them Afghanistan, the Netherlands and Portugal. Mostly, it’s simply a friendly neighborhood, European Union Ambassador David O’Sullivan said. The European Union has had a residence in Kalorama since 1972, and he looks forward to socializing with the new residents…. Maguy Maccario Doyle, Monaco’s ambassador to the U.S., has not run into her high-profile new neighbors yet, but “”I’m thinking of inviting them all over for a glass or two of champagne,”” she said. “”Perhaps they will drop by to watch the Monaco Grand Prix with me in the springtime? I would love to host them. I’m sure we will discover we all have much more in common than just a zip code…” In addition, says Maccario, “”the security is unbeatable, and it’s reasonably close to the best amenities and businesses that D.C. has to offer.””

So, speaking of ambasssadors and “unbeatable security,” what about the spooks? Bien sur! Town and Country once more:

Kalorama has its quirky side. Marie Drissel and I sampled it on a stroll down Leroy Place, a short street that dead ends into Connecticut Avenue north of Dupont Circle. She lives one street over on Bancroft, where Ralph Nader’s family have been longtime residents. “”This was a CIA safe house for years,”” she says of a large house on her corner. She points out an imposing, red brick house across the street.

Of course, the Spence debacle was in 1989; nothing like it could happen today. And I’m sure there aren’t any safe houses in Kalorama now.

And speaking of spooks and “amenities,” see WaPo’s “The Shadow World of Craig Spence“. A taste:

One Washington Times headline on June 30 said everything: “Power broker served drugs, sex at parties bugged for blackmail” The problem is that the prominent people named in the Washington Times — Ted Koppel, Eric Sevareid, Phyllis Schlafly, William Casey, Arnaud de Borchgrave and many others — attended the other parties. The parties where: People sat around in a perimeter after dinner discussing trade policy, where American policy makers were ushered into circles of foreign visitors to make serious talk; parties to which Koppel would sometimes send a stand-in; parties so dull that even Dossier magazine wouldn’t run the photographs. Spence, meanwhile, is nowhere to be found. His lap dog Winston — from whom he is rarely separated — is at a town house in Upper Marlboro with a longtime Spence employee. The imposing stone house on Wyoming Avenue in Kalorama, where Spence once lived and entertained, is attracting gawking news hounds.

The Kalorama Mansion: $8.1 Million

Obama actually has four homes: In Oahu, Hyde Park, Martha’s Vineyard, and the focus of our present interest, Kalorama. From Ghosts of DC, here is the exterior of the 8,200 -square-foot mansion:

And here, from Town and Country, is part of the interior:

These images are from the listing agent; they remind me of the Georgetown safehouse in Spook Country where Milgrim hears the voices of Brown and his handler coming up the stairs, Whispering Gallery style. The decor is certainly very white; Michelle seems to have redecorated it in neutral tones with accent colors.

What Obama Has Done in Kalorama Mansion

Two things that I can track down[4] (given Google and the limited time available to me; I have to attack HICPAC again soon).

First, Obama orchestrated Biden’s selection as the Democratic candidate from his mansion. From WaPo, April 14, 2020:

Former President Barack Obama endorsed Joe Biden for president Tuesday, saying in a video, with the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, Biden “”has the character and the experience to guide us through one of our darkest times and heal us through a long recovery.”” Obama said of his vice president and friend, “”Joe gets stuff done.”” Biden has used his eight years serving as Obama’s vice president as a central credential in his White House bid. ….Obama, in his endorsement, reached out to Bernie Sanders supporters with lavish praise for the independent Vermont senator while scorching Republicans. Visibly graying, Obama taped the video at his home in Washington’s Kalorama neighborhood.

The Night of the Long Knives was March 2. April 14 was the coup de grace. Obama clearly didn’t make this video on his iPhone; his office is set up for serious business.

Second, if Roger Stone (2020) is to be believed, Obama orchestrated Stone’s conviction:

For the sake of journalistic clarity and transparency, the woman appointed as the Jury Forewoman for my trial—Ms. Tomeka Hart—is an established Democratic Party activist and a protégé of the Donna Brazile…. I have in my possession a sworn affidavit from a secret service agent that claims that he witnessed Atty. Hart entering and leaving the residence of former President Barak and Michelle Obama and Valerie Jarrett on Kalorama Avenue in Washington, D.C.—during my trial.

Well, maybe. I can’t imagine this was ever proved in court. What Stone’s story does show is that Obama’s Kalorama mansion has been a focus on the right for some time.[4]

Obama’s Shadow Government

With that very long setup, we undertstand Obama’s Kalorama milieu and his, well, operational capability within his mansion. We can now turn to the great slab of material I promised from Garrow and Samuels session (bold is Samuels, of The Tablet, roman is Garrow). I have added notes and highlighted comments. A Literary Editor, Samuels, makes the running, but these are strange times:

[SAMUELS] What interests you most about Obama today? [GARROW] The number one thing about Barack this past five years is how completely he’s vanished. Why is he living in the center of Washington, D.C., then? Well, how much time is he spending there as opposed to Martha’s Vineyard? I have no idea. Between July Fourth and Labor Day, sure. The rest of the year, he lives in a large brick mansion in Kalorama. Doesn’t it strike you as weird that he’s an ex-president, he’s comparatively young, and he’s living in the center of Washington, D.C.? The original excuse was that Sasha had to finish school. Then you could say, “”Well, the opposition to Trump needs a figure to rally around.”” But now Sasha has graduated from USC, Trump is gone, Joe Biden was elected present, but he’s still there. I never see any mentions of him. Doesn’t that strike you as odd? I mean, I have heard from more than one source that there are regular meetings at Obama’s house in Kalorama involving top figures in the current White House, with Secret Service and cars outside.[1] I don’t write about it because it’s not my lane. There are over a thousand reporters in Washington, and yet there are zero stakeouts of Obama’s mansion, if only to tell us who is coming and going. But he clearly has his oar in….. It’s turtles all the way down. There are obviously large parts of White House policymaking that belong to Barack Obama because they’re staffed by his people[2], who worked for him and no doubt report back to him. Personnel is policy, as they say in Washington. Which to me is a very odd and kind of spooky arrangement. Spooky, because it is happening outside the constitutional framework of the U.S. government[3], and yet somehow it’s been placed off the list of permitted subjects to report on. Which is a pretty good indicator of the extent to which the information we get, and public reactions to that information, is being successfully controlled. How and by whom remain open questions, the quick answer to which is that the American press has become a subset of partisan comms. I’m going back to something you said 20 minutes ago. From the get-go, I know enough intelligence community stuff that from the first time I saw it, I realized that Christopher Steele’s shit was just complete crap. It was bad corporate intelligence, even. It was nonsensical. What scared me back then was coming to understand that a new milieu had been created consisting of party operatives, the people in the FBI and the CIA who are carrying out White House policy, and the press[4]. It is all one world now. And that’s something people still seem loathe to admit, even to themselves, in part because it puts them in a state of dissonance with this new kind of controlled consensus that the press maintains, which is obviously garbage. But if you question it, you’re some kind of nut.

Readers will understand why I find this thesis attractive. It conforms to my priors!

[1] We have a falsifiable theory. Do a stakeout. [2] A Flex Net, a familiar data structure. [3] Yes, a change in the constitutional order that I’ve been yammering about for some time, and also the central, unspoken theme of election 2024. [4] The Twitter Files show this “milieu” clearly, though I’m not sure the command structure is as Samuels understands it. Also, tech is involved through the content moderaion process, and maybe in other ways. (“Milieu” is a weak word’, I think, but we’re looking at a hard, unprecedented problem.

Samuels summarizes in his introduction:

To an extent that has never been meaningfully reported on, the Obamas served as both the symbolic and practical heads of the Democratic Party shadow government that ‘resisted’ Trump—another phenomenon that defied prior norms. The fact that these were not normal times could be adduced by even a passing glance at the front pages of the country’s daily newspapers, which were filled with claims that the 2016 election had been “”stolen”” by Russia and that Trump was a Russian agent.

Now to conclude with a critique.

Conclusion

Take “The Obama Factor” as read, as Samuels explains it. Is it correct to conceptualize the operation Obama is running from his Kalorama mansion as a government? (Remember that the scope of a shadow government is “whole of government,” not just parts.) Having read the article, and turning the question over in my mind, I posed the following question to the readership:

Query for the readership: Would Obama have invaded Ukraine, if he had been elected for a third term?

Because if Obama’s running the government, then he’s also running our proxy war in Ukraine? I should not have written “invaded”; I am always pressed temporally. Alert reader Nippersdad understood this, and answered what I meant to ask:

IIRC, Burns’ Nyet means Nyet cable was written during the Obama Administration when he was the Ambassador to Russia, a time in which Obama was saying that Russia had the advantage of proximity to any potential conflict with nearly unlimited ability to escalate (escalatory dominance, I think he called it). He was still saying that he was trying to implement the Minsk Accords as late as Feb. 2016. “”We are pressing hard to see Minsk fully implemented by the time the president leaves office,”” said a senior administration official, referring to the pact brokered by France and Germany and signed by Ukraine and Russia. “”We’re aiming for implementation during the second half of 2016.”” So, no, in spite of the obvious pressure on him it did not look like he would have gone to war with Ukraine in a third term. That was Hillary’s bailiwick.

Alert reader Carolinian wrote:

And while I don’t like Obama I don’t think he would have invaded Ukraine or provoked a war the way Blinken/Biden did. After all Hillary tried to get him to attack Syria and he didn’t.

Alert reader IACyclone wrote:

Re: Would Obama have invaded Ukraine given a third term. One of the few good things you can say about Obama is that he possesses a far more realistic understanding of foreign policy than most every other American politician. He’s still on board with the American imperial project and he constantly got rolled by opposing factions within the Deep State, but he at least he wasn’t totally high on his own supply. Case in point, he explicitly told Jeffrey Goldberg in an interview that Ukraine is a critical interest to Russia, and that it isn’t one for the U.S. Thus Obama’s reticence to provide weapons to Ukraine, which Republicans excoriated him over, in order to avoid a cycle of escalation that the U.S. would have no desire or will to match. For all the liberals chanting Slava Ukraine, it would be fun to see the looks on their faces when you remind them that the U.S. started sending actual weapons to Ukraine under the Trump Administration, unlike the Obama Administrations commitment to sending only non-lethal aid.

Alert reader Michael Fiorillo wrote:

I am far from an Obama fan, to put it mildly, but I think he’d have been reluctant to go into Ukraine. His refusal to send missiles there and his negotiating with Iran suggests some sense of limits to US power on his part.

And alert reader Pat:

I despise Obama, but I have always given him credit for recognizing what a disaster Hilary’s Libyan invasion was and realizing that the advice from that faction was almost consistently wrong.

(I understand Rev Kev’s point on Obama closing embassies, but I see that as posturing.)

So, I am with these readers. If Obama would not have fought the Ukraine proxy war that Biden is fighting, then Obama is not “governing.” QED. This was my first thought as soon as I cooled down — it’s nice to have one’s priors supported — after reading “The Obama Factor,” which is why I reached out for confirmation. (In essence, Obama never goes near anything that will make him look out of control, or like a failure, or dirty in some way. He moves away from situations like that like a cat backing away from a dish of spilt milk. A war in Ukraine, even a proxy one, would be more than capable of doing all three. So he wouldn’t go near it.) * * *

So what is Obama doing? What is “The Obama Factor”? Perhaps we should reframe government to that horrid neologism governance. It’s clear that Obama is maintaining his FlexNet and using it to….. do….. What, exactly? Control the Party so many of whose members have an Obama-shaped hole in their heads? Control the regulatory state through the Democrat Party? Consolidate the class power of the PMC? Whatever he’s doing, we can be sure it will be ice-cold, manipulative, and leave Obama with “clean hands.” Many have quoted Obama’s 2015 interview with quondam comic Stephen Colbert:

The transcript, in relevant part:

[OBAMA:] “”I used to say if I can make an arrangement where I had a stand-in or front-man or front-woman and they had an earpiece in and I was just in my basement in my sweats looking through the stuff and I could sort of deliver the lines while someone was doing all the talking and ceremony, I’d be fine with that because I found the work fascinating,”” Obama quipped.

As it turns out, Biden is not that front-man; otherwise, Obama would be governing, which is not. But if the entire Democrat Party were Obama’s stand-in… Well, that would be pretty neat, wouldn’t it?

Some “quip.” When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time….

NOTES

[1] Interestingly, “conservative” venues like PJ Media say nothing about this topic at all.

[2] Thank you, Google, for cluttering the map with hotel icons that I have no interest in.

[3] I love it that Jim Bell, “a Kalorama resident and executive vice president of TTR Sotheby’s International Realty,” is also known as “the King of Kalorama.” Also: “Besides political heavy-hitters and diplomats, about a third of Kalorama’s residents are technology executives and hedge fund workers, Bell said. But no one is blinking an eye over the fame of the newest neighbors.” Quite a mix!

[4] Another example is the apparent myth that Obama gave Valerie Jarrett an office in his mansion.

[iwan1979]

South China Morning Post: Japan man buys 200 decayed homes, gets US$900,000 in rent, captures attention

[jayconner-raisingprivatemoney]

How To Raise $640,000 In Private Money with Willie and Haruna Oyola

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05:01 Conventional Real Estate Investment Path

08:06 Private Money Conference Overview

10:31 Private vs. Institutional Lending

14:21 “Private Money Teacher” T-Shirt Explained

19:13 Motivation Behind Distressed Property Sale

21:05 Distressed Property Sale Analysis

24:05 Secure Loan-to-Value Strategy

27:11 Rent-by-Room Strategy for Profit

31:46 Self-Directed IRA Investment Advice

32:46 Connect with Willie and Haruna Oyola:

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[tumblebagel]

My eternal dilemma: Swords or coffee?

Fair warning: Most of this post is me talking to myself. Asking questions and then immediately answering them. So uhhh, yeah.

Context: I want Blorbos. I mean... I have blorbos, from my shows and my games, but I want OC blorbos to develop and inspire me to make shit. I have put out a real estate ad for my brain, and yet I have no characters living rent free in it yet.

( * - *)

Sorry, spaced out a minute trying to remember how to talk like a normal sane person. It's like 40 minutes past midnight.

OH MY GOD, I'M DOING THE THING, I'm late night Tumblr posting! Wooooooooah.

Ahem. Swords or Coffee. To have Blorbos, they need a world to live in, and I have two very strong aesthetics that I enjoy when it comes to worldbuilding. Unfortunately, they're almost completely mutually exclusive. Almost.

High Fantasy (with touches of feudal Japan and developing gunpowder)

And Retro/Lofi (often in city settings, and often showcasing the location's food)

My objective now is to figure out how to fuse these two settings. I want a barista with a katana on their back. I want, like, a walkman with designer headphones meant to fit over catgirl ears. I want belts and leather straps for equipment and armor, strapped overtop varsity jackets. And I think by writing this out just now, I've distilled this into the ACTUAL essence of the problem I'm facing:

Why carry weapons in a (mostly) modern day world? What would you need to fight, and more to the point, why would average citizens be encouraged to fight them rather than the [unnamed threat] being taken care of by a private corporation or government program?

Let's be honest. If goblins infested modern day New York City instead of rats, there would either be an act passed DECADES ago to eradicate them, or there would be a company you could pay to take care of the goblins for you. I want normal citizens to be able to fight goblins, and INCENTIVIZED to fight goblins. When they see one it's not "awww, a goblin's blocking the patio" it's "Aw fuck yeah, a goblin! (dramatic weapon drawing sound)"... I suppose then that combat wouldn't be for self defense, at least not most of the time. Maybe some more powerful enemies lurk the darker parts of the city (getting ahead of myself).

If combat isn't for self defense, what's it for? Well maybe it's moreso for sport. Day-to-day combat is like training, with small rewards, and then there's a big league you can compete in. Something akin to HxH's battle tower (or whatever it's called), or Splatoon's turf wars that are regularly scheduled in public places like parking garages. I think that'd work best.

Last note: No, I'm not actually going to be using goblins for the enemies because I like goblins too much, I'll have several Goblin characters. The enemies will be far less humanoid in nature, and more impervious to pain. Maybe like a hive mind situation.

Well, that's probably enough worldbuilding for tonight. Goals for tomorrow are to do some doodles and post them, as well as to write details on the enemies, the incremental rewards, and the "tournament" system. Past that, we'll flesh out the details of a magic system including a universe-wide twist on most magic formulas (IDK what it is yet), as well as prioritizing a balance between combat-magic and passive-magic.

Sweet, goodnight y'all

[lunarsilkscreen]

Why are the Samurai Iconic post Feudal Japan?

Just listened to an audiobook that put some historical pieces into place following WWII.

Because the U.S. military acted as a force to rebuild Japan, and not to own it; and didn't Rape or Plunder their population...It changed the overall sentiment on what war could and should be.

During Feudalism; despite ideals among the Warlords for the grand unification of Japan war is seen as controlling interest and ownership of the land underneath a person's feet.

Something that both created the U.S. as it is, and the U.S. still struggles with today.

The money, after-all, as the McDonald's Biopic puts it: is in Real Estate. Rent Seeking behavior. Money, after-all is a finite resource. And you cannot generate wealth without having a place to settle.

Former President Trump pushes this rhetoric; "They're coming to take your land, and your peace, and your settlement, and Rape and Plunder your Land."

A Fear that the U.S. has long since defeated... Except at this level for some reason.

Japan knows this fear from being in a perpetual defensive position which lead to the Bombings.

Manufactured Self-defensive offense because the alternative is an ideal that is being owned and controlled by some other population of people.

And some of that I assume is warranted.... But it's the business world we see it. Not at the individual level, only in corporate earth.

An idea that crosses boundaries about using that real-estate to ensure revenue. Getting paid for others to do the work for you.

When a business gets to a certain size; we see this dilemma. Just as what caused Pilgrimage, Settlers, The Trail of Tears, and subsequently the reunification of Japan.

So why the Samurai? Despite being equated to Western Cowboys as having a similar ideology; they are not. Because the Western Cowboys were never Samurai.

By now, if you know the difference between Ronin and Samurai; Cowboys are similar to Ronin, but they were never Samurai. They never had that grand cause they rebelled against or refused to die for.

They were always settlers.

<aside>There are two definitions of Settler; the Negative ones who came from somewhere else and took up space and resources from a Native Populace , usually by force; and the cowboys-- Settlers that just wandered. Sometimes for pay, as they had a profession similar to Shepard's.

The negativity surrounding them is they are untrustworthy, since they have no land and therefore cannot work the soil. So how do they get paid?</aside>

Ronin, sometimes fought for an Lord, and aided in the reunification, but never held their leadership's ideals in the [absolute highest] regard.

And they were seen as unreliable because they either failed the cause they fought for or, like the cowboys, didn't have any land to work the soil; So how did they get paid?

The Military G.I.s in Japan, initially were seen as an invading force, like any other. They only wanted to take the land. And they had the power to do so..yet like Ronin, Like the Cowboy's they were...they were just trying to return home to do something more worthwhile.

"Wow. What can be more worthwhile than attoning for the Sin of Nuclear Weaponry?"

But they, we, Don't know what it's really like to fight for a cause, maybe not worth believing in. Maybe not even worth doing.

Maybe closer to Mercenaries than the Ronin-X Kenshin Imura is based on.

Some of that propaganda put out by Oil interests reflects that. Where were supposed to be aiding a people in peace; peace never seems to come as those with power use it against the others.

In this manufactured Self-defensive offensive.

The Reason why the Samurai/Ronin are remembered is only for the [most highest of values]. Rejecting the imposed morals that hurt people in order to focus on something more worthwhile.

Something most people can't do. Overcoming the negative stereotype of becoming that mercenary for hire no matter the job or how much money they're paying.

Even today; Middle Eastern Propaganda says that the only reason people in power are in power is because of their family ties.

That one circulating thing that Says "Even Obama has ties to the European Royal Family Line." The one that Americans see as "This is why we should get our presidents better" and [Other Countries] See as "God Ordained Rights".

<aside>That's literally a thing happening in the middle east right now by the way. Royalty fighting over reasoning why they're royalty in the first place.</aside>

It's the Ronin and the Cowboys [With the Highest of Ideals] that only take jobs worth doing; and reject the notion that God cares more about this physical life than the Afterlife.

Because Man is not God. No matter how much power they attains.

[globalmortgage]

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Investment Potential

Investing in the U.K. rental market offers several benefits:

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[hinodajp]

Things to Know When Choosing Construction Machinery

There is a vast array of new and used heavy machines needed for real estate project or building site supervision. Either, you can buy them or you can rent. You must be knowledgeable in the positives and negatives of choosing, buying, and renting heavy Used construction equipment from Japan.

    Here we will examine the primary benefits and drawbacks of both methods.

  Purchasing Heavy Machinery

Buying computers altogether is the simplest way to acquire them. What follows is a list of the main benefits and drawbacks of purchasing Used construction machinery dealer in Japan.

  Buying Advantages:

The quickest method to obtain complete ownership of anything is to buy it up front, which saves time. You can save money and time by shoppingUsed heavy machinery for salein its place of repairing the old one if it comes to construction machinery.

You have the machine complete and are completely free to utilize it whenever you want, so it is always accessible for your construction projects.

Enough Time to Understand How to Utilize It—People will have enough time to understand how to effectively utilize the machine when it is available always. By maximizing the usage of machines, the overall standard of your building will be enhanced.

Save Money—All you must do to get machines is pay for them, and then you are good to go. As a result, you will not have to worry about the fees associated with loan financing, administration, and premiums.

With proper care and upkeep, you can get a lot of money back if you ever decide to sell your machines at Used construction machinery auction. This is especially true if they are in high resale value.

    Having your own machinery means you are also responsible for its upkeep, storage, and transportation.

Large Initial Expenditure—If money is scarce, purchasing construction machinery like from Used dozers for salecould be a major financial burden.

The worth of any piece of machinery will always decrease with time, meaning you may not obtain as much money when you sell it. This is known as value depreciation.

Advantages of Renting:

It is hard to predict in advance how a building project will develop, thus operations must be flexible. Depending on your needs at each step, you can require multiple models and variants of the same equipment. You may acquire different equipment anytime you want for as long as you want when you rent them. Plus, there is no long-term commitment involved.

Problems with Depreciation-Since you are not the legal owner of the machine, your liability ceases upon return. Depreciation and resale value are thus irrelevant concerns.

Disadvantages of Hiring:

Costs in the Long Run: For short-term enterprises, renting is a very profitable option. But big machinery, such as cranes and Used wheel loaders for sale, may quickly add up in rental costs.

Unfortunately, it is not always possible to hire the most up-to-date or ideal devices. Problems may arise if your job requires a certain model or set of rental accessories that are not readily available.

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Self-Storage Market Estimated to Witness High Growth Owing to Increasing Urbanization

The self-storage market involves renting storage space to individuals and businesses who need to store their belongings. Self-storage facilities offer flexible month-to-month rental terms along with varied space options ranging from small closet spaces to climate controlled wine rooms. They provide an affordable solution for students, professionals shifting jobs or homes, and entrepreneurs starting new ventures.

The global self-storage market is estimated to be valued at US$ 55843 Mn in 2023 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 6.9% over the forecast period 2023 to 2030, as highlighted in a new report published by Coherent Market Insights. Market Dynamics Increasing urbanization has been a major driver boosting the self-storage market growth. Rapid urban migration has led to smaller living spaces in cities. Self-storage helps free up space in homes and offers flexible storage solutions. Additionally, the convenience and affordability of renting storage units on need basis has boosted their popularity. Furthermore, factors such as rising international business agreements, global mobility of workforce, and increasing relocation activities have augmented the demand from enterprises for storage of excess goods and inventory. The self-storage market continues to grow steadily driven by constant influx of global talent into cities and increased business needs of organizations. SWOT Analysis Strength: The self-storage market has witnessed steady growth over the past few years owing to an increasing population and small living spaces. Self-storage offers flexible storage solutions to both residential and commercial clients. The market also allows storage of belongings for both short and long term durations. Weakness: Small storage spaces and high rental costs may discourage some customers. Security is also a concern for storing valuable goods. Lack of amenities at some facilities is another limitation. Opportunity: Growing workforce mobility and dual-income households are resulting in frequent relocations. This drives demand for interim storage solutions. The market sees opportunity in asset-light franchising models and mergers & acquisitions for geographical expansion. Threats: Economic downturns and fall in real estate prices reduce the need for off-site storage. Changing work patterns due to technology may lower relocation rates impacting demand. High operating costs remain a challenge. Key Takeaways The global self-storage market is expected to witness high growth over the forecast period supported by changing demographic trends and high residential mobility. The global self-storage market is estimated to be valued at US$ 55843 million in 2023 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 6.9% over the forecast period 2023-2030.

The Asia Pacific region is poised to be the fastest growing regional market for self-storage. Countries like China, India and Japan are urbanizing rapidly and witnessing an increase in dual income households opting for temporary storage solutions. Key players operating in the self-storage market are Public Storage, Extra Space Storage, Life Storage Inc and SmartStop Self Storage. Public Storage is the largest player with a widespread storage facility network across the United States and Canada. Extra Space Storage is growing organically and through acquisitions across major cities in the US, UK and Spain.

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