Author Topic: FranLab is getting evicted  (Read 251708 times)

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Offline EEVblog

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Re: FranLab is getting evicted
« Reply #200 on: October 16, 2018, 01:50:44 pm »
It's kind of irritating how much someone can charge for owning land and get rich off of it and the hard work of running a factory or doing R&D is taxed so heavily...

Maybe that owner actually worked running a factory or doing R&D to afford to buy the land in the first place?
 

Offline Cerebus

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Re: FranLab is getting evicted
« Reply #201 on: October 16, 2018, 01:51:11 pm »
The current UK commercial rental on light industrial/office space in a business park in a so-so location is around the £70/sqft/annum mark - that's advertised asking price one might negotiate some discount.

 :o
Rates in my business park start at about AU$300sqm (AU$28 sqft /£15.1)
And it's a very upmarket business park. Resmed, Woolworths and other big names are there.

The UK rate seems very high indeed. Here (in Hamburg, one of the more expensive cities in Germany) you would be looking at costs close to what Dave mentioned for Sidney. Unless you want an office right in the city center, that is.

Just to make sure: We are talking about net rent, excluding utilities, facility management etc., right?

That would usually include some joint facilities management fees (which are almost inescapable in UK rented commercial properties) but excludes everything else. UK commercial property has always been expensive and recent (10-20 yrs) general shifts in the property market have made it even more so. You can get better rates in the north of England, but most technology companies are in the South/South East where rents are the highest. At the very bottom end it can be a little cheaper, renting a single (grotty) office with a desk over a local shop would set me back £300 per month.
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Offline sokoloff

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Re: FranLab is getting evicted
« Reply #202 on: October 16, 2018, 01:55:55 pm »
It's kind of irritating how much someone can charge for owning land and get rich off of it and the hard work of running a factory or doing R&D is taxed so heavily...

Does anyone actually have alot of respect for their land lord? :-DD
At somewhere along the way, rather than using money to consume, someone used money to invest in land, buildings, or other rentable improvements. That they are now reaping the benefit of that foregone consumption is no more offensive to me than someone enjoying the shade of a tree they planted 20 years earlier.

I respected all three of my individual landlords. One was a divorced woman renting a third of her house where she'd done some remodeling to block off a hallway, add a kitchen and bath, and make what would be an illegal apartment in most cities (but out in the unincorporated area, it was likely legally unfettered). She was giving up a third of her house to me to make ends meet. The second was a mid-60s (estimated) handyman who converted his basement of a split-level into a similar setup and renting to me to make ends meet. The third was a real-estate agent who bought a triplex, lived in the bottom unit, rented the top two out to make the mortgage, then moved out and bought another triplex to continue to the same process and I moved into his old owner's unit. He was doing better financially than the previous two, but there was an obvious linkage between his sacrifice (of time and money) and the little real estate empire he was beginning to build for himself.

So, yes, I have a lot of respect for all three of them. The commercial landlord I rented from I have no information or knowledge of, but given that their investment allowed me to live in a place that I enjoyed and couldn't afford to buy and that they lived up to every aspect of their end of the lease, I also respect them.
 

Offline EEVblog

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Re: FranLab is getting evicted
« Reply #203 on: October 16, 2018, 02:01:43 pm »
The current UK commercial rental on light industrial/office space in a business park in a so-so location is around the £70/sqft/annum mark - that's advertised asking price one might negotiate some discount.
:o
Rates in my business park start at about AU$300sqm (AU$28 sqft /£15.1)
And it's a very upmarket business park. Resmed, Woolworths and other big names are there.

The UK rate seems very high indeed. Here (in Hamburg, one of the more expensive cities in Germany) you would be looking at costs close to what Dave mentioned for Sidney. Unless you want an office right in the city center, that is.

Just to make sure: We are talking about net rent, excluding utilities, facility management etc., right?

Yes, my price does not include "outgoings" as they are called here.
The smaller the office gets the more expensive per sqm. For example, my current office is about $500 sqm for the 33sqm, $400sqm for a larger one, again, not including outgoings. But it's probably the best and most prestigious building in the park and has a front desk concierge. Really schmick, I hate to leave it actually.

In the park across the road you can get large office spaces for under $200 sqm, like this random one:
https://www.realcommercial.com.au/property-offices-nsw-castle+hill-502666534
The combined warehouse/office thing is cheaper again at about $180sqm
https://www.realcommercial.com.au/property-industrial+warehouse-nsw-castle+hill-502898898
« Last Edit: October 16, 2018, 02:15:37 pm by EEVblog »
 

Offline EEVblog

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Re: FranLab is getting evicted
« Reply #204 on: October 16, 2018, 02:04:25 pm »
My old lab will be available for rent shortly, anyone want me as landlord?  ;D

Actually, most commercial (and residential) places are run by management agencies, so you never really know who your landlord actually is.
 

Offline RickBrant

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Re: FranLab is getting evicted
« Reply #205 on: October 16, 2018, 06:11:45 pm »
Fran should maybe investigate rural-ish western PA - the rural areas around Pittsburgh, in Washington County, etc.

I don't know the situation around Philadelphia but rural western PA is extremely depressed and yet not that far from "civilization".

I'd donate to a GoFundMe.

(This thread is increasing my resolve to hold a garage sale.)

« Last Edit: October 16, 2018, 07:44:03 pm by RickBrant »
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Offline MK14

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Re: FranLab is getting evicted
« Reply #206 on: October 16, 2018, 07:50:00 pm »
But that will cost money (I'm not sure exactly how much, in the US), to rent the storage space(s).

In Sydney a 6m x 9m (54sqm/580sqft) storage shed is about $1400/month. $1000/month for 6m x 6m.
You can actually lease a unit/apartment for the same price

It is a fairly expensive thing, at those prices.
For you, with a thriving YouTube and other stuff, business. You can justify (business case) and afford it.

Similarly, if the area in the US's, storage rental rates can drop enough, in a unpopular, not so convenient location. Which I hope is possible, but I'm not familiar enough with the US, to be sure.

Maybe Fran's YouTube and business activities, can afford the storage.
If they CAN'T afford them, then solutions, such as downsizing, need to be considered.
But maybe Fran could raise prices (on the other activities) and attempt to make more money via the YouTube things.

In fairness to Fran and others, stuff in life costs money. If Fran has effectively created a tiny/modest TV channel like thing (YouTube), then there is a need for some revenues to come in and pay for things, like rent etc.

I've seen and enjoyed some of Fran's videos, in the past. Such as weird, somewhat long forgotten, display devices. Which they very determinedly, researched and got it working, for the video. It was very nice to watch.

Actually, I've just had a look, to refresh my memory.
I've really enjoyed, lots of Fran's videos, on various rare things. Such as rare electronics kits, rare LED's, space related electronics etc.

I'm now beginning to feel guilty. I'm not particularly good, at brand recognition. I tend to just watch interesting videos, without necessarily remembering the channel it was. I'd forgotten how many of Fran's videos I'd watched and enjoyed.

Unfortunately, I'm the sort of person, who watches electronics related videos, but who doesn't send any money. (I don't want to admit my adblock status, but you can probably guess ).

In the case of Daves EEVblog, he does sometimes sell things, which I am at least tempted to buy, at times. Such as multimeters, and microcurrent devices. So, sooner or later, I could end up contributing, indirectly, financially.

This post has got, too big, sorry.
Modern life seems to have created this YouTube channels thing, whereby MOST viewers, can just not directly pay any money for it (i.e. it is "free"). Rightly or wrongly, that is the way of the world (of youtube), at the moment. But google sooner or later (I know they already partly started this), may move to a more subscription like model, and allow people like me, to essentially contribute to the channels, without actually specifically paying a particular channel with contributions.

i.e. A sort of Netflix for YouTube. So if you watch lots of electronics related videos, they get a significant chunk of your subscription to youtube. Hence can carry on, doing their stuff.
But I'm a tiny/minute cog, in a massive machine, full of giant cogs, so can't initiate changes like this, myself. Unless I turn into Bill Gates, or similar, and do it myself.
 

Offline james_s

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Re: FranLab is getting evicted
« Reply #207 on: October 16, 2018, 08:34:09 pm »

And then, once you have convinced yourself that you don't even remember what's there, and that you have never accessed anything over the past 5 years, chuck it all out! ;) 

Doesn't sound like the worst of plans to me; it takes some pain out of the decision-making process...

That sounds like a good way to waste a lot of really valuable stuff potentially. No sense in throwing the baby out with the bath water, at least take some time to go through it, I regularly find treasures I forgot I had or didn't know what I had done with when I clean out a closet or the garage.
 

Offline james_s

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Re: FranLab is getting evicted
« Reply #208 on: October 16, 2018, 08:38:44 pm »
Before you sell you need to inventory the stuff, then you need to ship the items, let alone create listings for sale. This is huge work.

What I've done a few times and helped others do is do is first do a quick sort between keep and dispose of, then do another quick sort through the dispose of pile, cherry picking all the stuff that I'm fairly sure will fetch enough to be worth the trouble of selling, then I get a bunch of flat rate boxes from the post office and start listing a few items each evening on ebay, packing them up in a shipping box as I finish listing them. Then I start going through the less valuable stuff and make some collections of similar stuff and list these for sale as small lots, then if I have time I list some of the lower value stuff or just give it away. Anything not worth selling that I can't give away, that's when I consider tossing it out. The key is to make sure you deal with a few items every day, until it's all gone.
 
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Offline EEVblog

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Re: FranLab is getting evicted
« Reply #209 on: October 16, 2018, 10:48:04 pm »
But that will cost money (I'm not sure exactly how much, in the US), to rent the storage space(s).

In Sydney a 6m x 9m (54sqm/580sqft) storage shed is about $1400/month. $1000/month for 6m x 6m.
You can actually lease a unit/apartment for the same price

It is a fairly expensive thing, at those prices.
For you, with a thriving YouTube and other stuff, business. You can justify (business case) and afford it.

I actually own my own 44sqm storage unit and rent it to myself  ;D (yes, it's legal)
 
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Offline EEVblog

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Re: FranLab is getting evicted
« Reply #210 on: October 16, 2018, 10:50:47 pm »
But google sooner or later (I know they already partly started this), may move to a more subscription like model, and allow people like me, to essentially contribute to the channels, without actually specifically paying a particular channel with contributions.


They already have that, Youtube Premium. Sign up and you get no ads, access to Premium content shows, and all the creators you watch get a cut of your money without you having to worry about it.
 
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Offline MK14

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Re: FranLab is getting evicted
« Reply #211 on: October 16, 2018, 11:40:20 pm »
I actually own my own 44sqm storage unit and rent it to myself  ;D (yes, it's legal)

That makes perfect sense. The UK is similar, where similar things are done, to (usually fully legally), allow you to pay the tax you need to, but not more. But some extreme tax saving schemes are both morally wrong (arguably), and potentially illegal these days. Which for example, some massive plc companies do.

They already have that, Youtube Premium. Sign up and you get no ads, access to Premium content shows, and all the creators you watch get a cut of your money without you having to worry about it.

I will seriously consider that, for the coming future.
Google messed up partly, because some time ago, I was seriously considering getting it. But then found out, that at that time, it was NOT available in the UK  :(
Now that it is available, I can look into it.
 

Offline tooki

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Re: FranLab is getting evicted
« Reply #212 on: October 17, 2018, 01:54:10 am »
But google sooner or later (I know they already partly started this), may move to a more subscription like model, and allow people like me, to essentially contribute to the channels, without actually specifically paying a particular channel with contributions.


They already have that, Youtube Premium. Sign up and you get no ads, access to Premium content shows, and all the creators you watch get a cut of your money without you having to worry about it.
Alas, only available in a few handfuls of countries. :(
 

Offline SilverSolder

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Re: FranLab is getting evicted
« Reply #213 on: October 17, 2018, 02:27:30 am »
Youtube is down hard at the moment - can't be good for anyone's video based business!
 

Offline SiliconWizard

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Re: FranLab is getting evicted
« Reply #214 on: October 17, 2018, 03:14:22 am »
It's kind of irritating how much someone can charge for owning land and get rich off of it and the hard work of running a factory or doing R&D is taxed so heavily...

Maybe that owner actually worked running a factory or doing R&D to afford to buy the land in the first place?

Good point. ;D

Thing is, in some countries, real productive work is actually taxed more than rental income. That's probably this part that is highly debatable, not the fact you can make money off owning a property - and the fact that some owner actually worked hard (and got taxed accordingly at the time) to own a property (which is not always the case but obviously happens) doesn't really change the idea that this tax policy is biased.
 

Offline cdev

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Re: FranLab is getting evicted
« Reply #215 on: October 17, 2018, 03:21:51 am »
Lots of people who put stuff in storage lose their possessions to the bills, which mount up. It ends up being auctioned off to whomever shows up with cash.

And its just heartbreaking to see people pleading to get some prized item, family photo or important document out of the auction items. Lots of the time, of course, they dont even know its going to be sold, not having an address to receive the notification at. Evictions and homelessness in the US are at all time highs.

Best to just sell the bulky stuff and not put things in storage unless they are really irreplaceable. The cost is too high for storing anything like old electronics unless it really is valuable. Not just interesting.

Personally, I think its a bubble that is bound to break. There is less and less real wealth creation, much of what we see is just churning, money-mad landlords displacing good tenants like Fran in order to get some pie in the sky deal that may never pan out.

Last I looked my old apartment in SF was still on the market for one and a half million dollars. Or had it been sold and then resold. It doesnt matter. It was a nice top floor flat. I lived there a long time, and it made me really ill. A super toxic challenge for anybidy because the mold was just inside everythunbg inside the walls and they never cleaned it out. Just painted it over. beware, the inside of the building's walls were is a mold trap.
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Offline cdev

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Re: FranLab is getting evicted
« Reply #216 on: October 17, 2018, 03:25:38 am »
Now I own and my walls are my own. Thank god.

Looking to finish a survey of my house I am doing for Photogrammetry

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Offline Siwastaja

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Re: FranLab is getting evicted
« Reply #217 on: October 17, 2018, 04:38:46 pm »
Thing is, in some countries, real productive work is actually taxed more than rental income.

Such as Finland, with work-based income taxed quickly at 70%, while capital income is at 34% max. (Both progressive as of now, but the latter is almost linear.)

The progressivity which quickly gets over 50% causes interesting things, and the whole system works around no one actually getting a big payroll, but through other legal, "gray" or even illegal ways, so after this, we basically have a non-progressive tax system. For example, we have a system in which the employer can pay tax free money for the employee driving their own car quite arbitrarily, by a rate much more than the car maintaining or fuel costs, which encourages people to drive as much as possible to get extra tax free money. This is freaking great for our environment...

This is designed so that it's best to either be super rich (being able to circumvent the taxes in multiple ways), or be in the "higher low class" with low enough income so that the progression doesn't feel yet, then live wisely with what you have. Middle class easily pays 50-60% taxes (and they often feel they need to have high-class symbols they can't afford, typically bought with loans), and the absolutely lowest class tends to drop out through the gaping holes in the overly-complex social security system, whose primary purpose is to give "social security" to the social security workers themselves by having as many different parallel systems as possible, and a lot of paperwork. Here, it's rare not to receive any kind of monetary social benefit directly or indirectly, usually meaninglessly small for the big picture, but it keeps the bureaus running.

What it's worth, it's inevitable that living in a largish city with big premises is going to be expensive, but I guess this isn't news to anyone. While most seem to be suggesting downsizing the space requirements, my suggestion wouldn't necessarily be downsizing, but instead, maybe compromising with the location. Yeah, not that much café culture on countryside, but living peacefully closer to the nature may work as well. For me, my heart is in the forest, in serenity. (Which is one of the reasons I like being where I am, even though I loathe "the system".)
« Last Edit: October 17, 2018, 04:41:29 pm by Siwastaja »
 

Offline SiliconWizard

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Re: FranLab is getting evicted
« Reply #218 on: October 17, 2018, 06:08:08 pm »
This is designed so that it's best to either be super rich (being able to circumvent the taxes in multiple ways), or be in the "higher low class" with low enough income so that the progression doesn't feel yet

Absolutely, same as in France. I guess those countries that have (or at least pretend to have) heavy social programs actually tend to favor the super-rich. Something to think about.
Additionally, taxing productive work too much is counter-productive IMO and as you said, tends to be an incentive for tricking the system when you can. Not morally sane IMO.

What it's worth, it's inevitable that living in a largish city with big premises is going to be expensive, but I guess this isn't news to anyone. While most seem to be suggesting downsizing the space requirements, my suggestion wouldn't necessarily be downsizing, but instead, maybe compromising with the location

Fully agree here. Especially if your job doesn't tie you to any specific location and you have no young kids. Just find yourself a nice place outside of the city for much cheaper.

 

Offline Mr. Scram

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Re: FranLab is getting evicted
« Reply #219 on: October 18, 2018, 02:05:19 am »
Absolutely, same as in France. I guess those countries that have (or at least pretend to have) heavy social programs actually tend to favor the super-rich. Something to think about.
Additionally, taxing productive work too much is counter-productive IMO and as you said, tends to be an incentive for tricking the system when you can. Not morally sane IMO.

Fully agree here. Especially if your job doesn't tie you to any specific location and you have no young kids. Just find yourself a nice place outside of the city for much cheaper.
Even if your job doesn't tie you to a specific location, jobs tend to be clustered around city areas and also higher paying in those places. Only if your job is fully independent of the location it really pays.
 

Offline cdev

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Re: FranLab is getting evicted
« Reply #220 on: October 19, 2018, 02:25:46 am »
Two words: Services Liberalization.

Fully agree here. Especially if your job doesn't tie you to any specific location and you have no young kids. Just find yourself a nice place outside of the city for much cheaper.
Even if your job doesn't tie you to a specific location, jobs tend to be clustered around city areas and also higher paying in those places. Only if your job is fully independent of the location it really pays.

Enjoy your life while you can! Just don't make any binding financial commitments based on things remaining as they are. Churners - like Fran's new LL, are likely to over-leverage themselves and find themselves in debt to the Mob. Except this time the Mob will be overseas investors who have no mercy. The sharks are circling.
« Last Edit: October 19, 2018, 03:16:03 am by cdev »
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Offline NiHaoMike

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Re: FranLab is getting evicted
« Reply #221 on: October 19, 2018, 03:00:12 am »
They already have that, Youtube Premium. Sign up and you get no ads, access to Premium content shows, and all the creators you watch get a cut of your money without you having to worry about it.
What % of the fee actually goes to the creators? What about creators who do not have it set up to accept payments? I don't think the ad free part is worth much when there are many free adblockers for that, but the premium content might be worth it. (What is "premium" content anyways? Movies?)
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Offline EEVblog

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Re: FranLab is getting evicted
« Reply #222 on: October 19, 2018, 04:30:48 am »
What % of the fee actually goes to the creators?

Complex algorithm. Depends on how long they watch, and how many others to watch. It gets auto-magically divvied up

Quote
What about creators who do not have it set up to accept payments?

Anyone who has a monetisation enabled gets Premium income as well if a premium user watches their video.

Quote
I don't think the ad free part is worth much when there are many free adblockers for that, but the premium content might be worth it. (What is "premium" content anyways? Movies?)

Movies and shows like Kobra Kai (worth it just for that!)
I think I can make content Premium users only, but haven't looked into that.
 

Offline NiHaoMike

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Re: FranLab is getting evicted
« Reply #223 on: October 19, 2018, 04:51:15 am »
I'd be quite reluctant to pay for a service that "promises" to pay the creators without proof of how much actually goes to them. It could be something like 10% or less in which case it would be even more of a scam than record company deals. In contrast, Patreon boasts that 90% goes to the creator and some cryptocurrencies (not Bitcoin except for large transactions or special cases) do even more than that.
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Offline EEVblog

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Re: FranLab is getting evicted
« Reply #224 on: October 19, 2018, 09:43:24 pm »
She finally has a GoFundMe set up, and it's doing very well!

https://www.gofundme.com/franlab-needs-a-new-home/
 
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