Home Prices and More Pie
Professionally, I focus on creating social benefit startups. In my Saturday morning emails I share what I’m learning and thinking. Topics range from better living and parenting to business and philosophy.
I’ll be taking a break but back in April. Keep on reading!
Homes as Investments. Not sure I agree with everything in this article, but it raises a good question: why does residential real estate increase in value? From an economic perspective, is it scarcity? I don’t think it is improvements homeowners make. In the US, we’ve built fewer housing units than population growth. (As an aside, the decline in absolute housing units in CT started in the 1970s. Is that when housing prices started to increase?) Perhaps the economic returns to being in a city drive part of the desirability to be close together. So, then is it the land scarcity? Or artificial land scarcity driven by zoning or other rules? Or is the increase in residential real estate an illusion when properly inflation adjusted? How much are prices driven by government support? I’m looking for more good stuff to read on this subject.
Split the Pie. I suggested you read the book Split the Pie, but forgot to do so myself until this week. As promised, he does cover iterative expectation effects but not as much as I’d like. I do like the idea of “fighting fire with water”. When someone uses a negotiation tactic that you perceive as “unfair”, you can hypothetically suggest the use of symmetry and say that you don’t want to do that. The technique calls them on questionable behavior without escalation. I’m also a fan of the negotiating book Getting More.
Straight to Compose. I’ve built a very strong habit around checking my email. I’ve worked to back off yet still struggle to find the right balance. One hack that I recommend for Gmail users is to bookmark the compose link in your browser. Then you can write an email without seeing your inbox. For me it helps avoid the distraction of incoming email while I’m writing an outgoing one.
Until next week,
Miles