1894: Real Estate - Revision history

Tromag at 15:20, 18 January 2024

2024-01-18T15:20:11Z

Tromag at 14:37, 10 May 2023

2023-05-10T14:37:21Z

Vandalbane: Reverted vandalism with User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js

2022-05-26T19:55:55Z

Reverted vandalism with User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js

Show changes

Donald Trump: Reverted edit by anti-crap user

2022-05-26T19:04:51Z

Reverted edit by anti-crap user

Show changes

CRLF: Reverted vandalism with User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js

2022-05-26T17:45:14Z

Reverted vandalism with User:CRLF/OneClickUndo.js

Show changes

Donald Trump: Crapped page

2022-05-26T17:26:33Z

Crapped page

Show changes

172.70.210.233: Undo revision 271860 by Explain xkcd server admin (talk)

2022-05-20T23:16:54Z

Undo revision 271860 by Explain xkcd server admin (talk)

Show changes

Explain xkcd server admin at 22:49, 20 May 2022

2022-05-20T22:49:53Z

Show changes

Theusaf: Reverted edits by 👖🔥 (talk) to last revision by Jacky720

2022-05-11T18:44:30Z

Reverted edits by 👖🔥 (talk) to last revision by Jacky720

Show changes

👖🔥 at 17:45, 11 May 2022

2022-05-11T17:45:44Z

Show changes

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 ==Explanation==
-In this comic, [[Cueball]] is speaking with [[Ponytail]], his real estate agent, about an ongoing negotiation over the price of a house he is looking to buy. This is probably his first time buying a house and he is very overwhelmed by the process, a very common feeling among first-time home buyers. The housing market is so complicated and ever-changing, that it is almost impossible for the layman to have any concept of what a piece of property is worth. One must rely on the opinions of their real estate agent, building inspector, friends and family, along with research regarding the housing market in the area (average property values, what houses recently sold for, etc). Despite the comic mocking it as an obvious stalling tactic, telling the agent that you need time to think about it is a good strategy to research further while seeming to know what you're doing.
+In this comic, [[Cueball]] is speaking with [[Ponytail]], his real estate agent, about an ongoing negotiation over the price of a house he is looking to buy. This is probably his first time buying a house and he is very overwhelmed by the process, a very common feeling among first-time home buyers. Houses are the largest single purchase most people will ever make, involves sums far greater than most people typically deal with. The housing market is so complicated and ever-changing that it is almost impossible for the layman to have a clear understanding of what a piece of property is worth. One must rely on the opinions of their real estate agent, building inspector, friends and family, along with research regarding the housing market in the area (average property values, what houses recently sold for, etc). Despite the comic mocking it as an obvious stalling tactic, telling the agent that you need time to think about it is a good strategy to research further while seeming to know what you're doing.
 In the caption [[Randall]] makes it seem that he is in Cueball's situation in any financial negotiation, not only for such large ones as when buying real estate.
@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 In the title text Randall mentions that he tried to convert the prices into the equivalent numbers of pizzas that amount could buy. Humans can't directly comprehend large numbers, and the value of money is what it can buy, so thinking of a sum of money in terms of a commodity you regularly buy is a pretty good tactic. However, when dealing with the sums of money involved in real estate purchases, that once again becomes meaningless: the $10,000 price reduction translates to hundreds of pizzas and the typical price of a house translates to thousands of them. At this point, the volume of pizza becomes as incomprehensible as the amount of money itself. A better tactic might be to think in terms of the equivalent months of income. Alternately, one could do the mortgage calculations and determine how much the prices translate to on a monthly basis (which would likely convert to a more reasonable number of pizzas per month).
-This comic is in line with the much older [[616: Lease]] and the more recent [[1674: Adult]] regarding buying real estate and not feeling grown up (see also [[905: Homeownership]]).
+This comic is in line with the much older [[616: Lease]] and the more recent [[1674: Adult]] regarding buying real estate and not feeling sufficiently grown-up to handle such an important transaction (see also [[905: Homeownership]]).

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 In the caption [[Randall]] makes it seem that he is in Cueball's situation in any financial negotiation, not only for such large ones as when buying real estate.
-In the title text Randall mentions that he tried to convert the prices into the equivalent numbers of pizzas that amount could buy (most pizza parlors charge roughly 15 dollars for a 16-inch/40 cm pizza, so this price cut could net him over 650 pizzas even before the driveway repairs). Thinking of the price of an object (or a reduction in the price) in terms of the number of pizzas (or similar objects) that amount could buy is a good strategy for weighing the pros and cons of a smaller purchase, but doesn't help in this situation, as the number of pizzas is so large that it becomes meaningless in itself. For example, a $300k house would represent 20k pizzas, or enough to have a pizza for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for about 18 years! A better strategy would be to compare the large price to his average monthly cost of living (rent, utility bills, car payments, et al), or to compare to the comparatively stable average cost to build on-site, or the price of factory built homes.
+In the title text Randall mentions that he tried to convert the prices into the equivalent numbers of pizzas that amount could buy. Humans can't directly comprehend large numbers, and the value of money is what it can buy, so thinking of a sum of money in terms of a commodity you regularly buy is a pretty good tactic. However, when dealing with the sums of money involved in real estate purchases, that once again becomes meaningless: the $10,000 price reduction translates to hundreds of pizzas and the typical price of a house translates to thousands of them. At this point, the volume of pizza becomes as incomprehensible as the amount of money itself. A better tactic might be to think in terms of the equivalent months of income. Alternately, one could do the mortgage calculations and determine how much the prices translate to on a monthly basis (which would likely convert to a more reasonable number of pizzas per month).
 This comic is in line with the much older [[616: Lease]] and the more recent [[1674: Adult]] regarding buying real estate and not feeling grown up (see also [[905: Homeownership]]).
 ==Transcript==