Big Barn’s Retirement Farm Shop

[TheFarmerInAdell]

And I thought housing prices here were getting bad. Here I'm surprised when houses like what you posted would go for over $200k. There are very few house sales over $500k in my area. $400k seems to be the top of the upper middle class budget for us right now, up from about $300k a few years ago. It's not that the more expensive properties don't exist, but probably 90%+ of property sales are under $400k right now.

I realize the above response was about a lathe, but.

We have an old (OK, not REAL OLD, about 40 years) Delta or maybe Rockwell drill press. There are three sets of sheaves, with RPM capability of something like 200-5,000 (may be a bit of exaggeration there, just going off memory from maybe 10 years ago which is the last time I really looked at it). It's VERY simple and quick to change - an L-shaped handle holds the motor in place, just loosen that and you can change one or both belts in 10-20 seconds. Unless I were an 8-hr x5-day drill press operator, doing jobs for 5 minutes at a time and everyone required a different speed, I can't possibly see the payoff of a VFD over a simple mechanical setup.

I make bottle stoppers in batches (to sell) so I do about 20 or so at a time. It is always a pain to change from turning speed up to sanding speed and then back down to finish application speed. Removing them from the spindle is another option, but I don't want to mess up the threads where the metal stopper threads in. If I had a variable speed belt drive system like what knee mills use I'd be far ahead of what I'm doing now. Or even a gear change lever would be better. I know that when I ran mills it was extremely useful to have variable speed as I went from tap drills to taps to endmills all while the same part was clamped in the vice. An old drill press I used at one of the shops I worked at had a 2 or 3 lever gear selector set-up (can't remember, that was a few years ago). That was nice because I would drill then tap or ream in that drill press. Also, the vice in that drill press was not bolted down. We just used a piece of flat stock in the T-slot to keep the vice from spinning around.

 

[goeduck]

And I thought housing prices here were getting bad. Here I'm surprised when houses like what you posted would go for over $200k. There are very few house sales over $500k in my area. $400k seems to be the top of the upper middle class budget for us right now, up from about $300k a few years ago. It's not that the more expensive properties don't exist, but probably 90%+ of property sales are under $400k right now.

$400K is about the starting point around here for anything you would want to buy, maybe $350K

 

[Big Barn]

$400K is about the starting point around here for anything you would want to buy, maybe $350K

Okay. Same circumstances. My area...

$600-$700K for a house worth looking at.

I know I have mentioned this before
but my farm is in the provincial Agricultural Land Reserve. Plus it is in a flood plain and ecologically sensitive area. ( no human habitation/ houses)

The land bordering me on THREE sides is NOT in the ALR and a bare (serviced) city lot would be $700K. Then you have to build your house and have a nice day. LOL

 

[dstig1]

Nope. All locals at that price point. We have land speculation tax laws in place now. Off shore money doesn’t bother with old houses, just the $3 million plus properties.

What are those?

 

[Big Barn]

It's an azz backwards PITA! Everyone has to apply each year to apply for the exemption to avoid paying higher taxes.

Speculation and vacancy tax

The speculation and vacancy tax, also known as

www2.gov.bc.ca

 

[jjp8182]

It's an azz backwards PITA! Everyone has to apply each year to apply for the exemption to avoid paying higher taxes.

Speculation and vacancy tax

The speculation and vacancy tax, also known as

www2.gov.bc.ca

That sounds a little like a "homestead exemption" filing for a person's primary residence around here. Except there is no requirement to file annually and I suspect there's (potentially?) a higher tax rates being imposed on speculators and owners of "vacant homes" there. Seeing as the difference in tax rates here apparently isn't enough to prevent foreign money or even out-of-state money from buying up foreclosed properties in this area --- which then tend to sit vacant or be rented out (if in good condition).

Bit interesting though to see that some of the prices around here have apparently gotten to be just as high as they are in other "more desirable" places. Not that long ago I saw a few bare lots under a 1/5th of an acre being sold for $90k to $400k (depending on the neighborhood) which was at the high end of things I've seen so far. Add in building a house (at current building prices) at those types of prices ...and I'm left wondering if I could even afford buying my current home at existing market rates (despite not being anywhere near those neighborhoods since they're driving everything else in the region up when they get sold at those rates).


....may end up having to settle for a retirement shack (or cardboard box?) rather than a retirement barn/shop

 

[Delapagerie]

I have shop envy now!

 

[dragoneggs]

I'm hoping he doesn't decide to clear out his shop and renovate the space into apartments. Then he'll start a new thread named Big Barn's Retirement Apartment Complex.

TRACES... Terry's Retirement Apartment Complex Excluding Shop

In case BB wants to downsize and keep a smaller shop and go into the real estate and landlord market.

 

[Ford850]

TRACES... Terry's Retirement Apartment Complex Excluding Shop

In case BB wants to downsize and keep a smaller shop and go into the real estate and landlord market.

Just imagine the Big Barn Sale he would have, to liquidate some of his tools.

 

[dragoneggs]

Speaking of liquidation...