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There is clearly scope to make a tidy profit (potentially tax-free) by 'flipping' houses bought, lived in and refurbished, before selling and repeating the exercise. A person with sufficient skill (or good contacts) can do or manage the refurb himself, possibly full-time, and thus derive a fair income whilst having a place to live in rent-free - but not free of other outgoings. And the cost and disruption of buying/selling/moving every year or so is quite daunting and not to be undertaken lightly. It is certainly not something I would wish to do - and I've lived in my current house for 26 years, steadily improving it where necessary. In theory, it is my 'forever' home, but my wife and I will probably have to downsize at some point - something I dread. As to never realising the enhanced value of both impovements and inflation - in my case around 400% in all - that is academic whilst we still have the security of a comfortable home. When the second of us dies, our five sons will inherit a tidy windfall - assuming that the government has not taxed it out of existence. As to the ongoing cost of a second home, such as that I bought in 2011 and refurbed steadily over the next four years, the outgoings (council tax, insurance, utlities, minor repairs and (not to be overlooked), interest on capital), the total represents the 'rent' for the use and enjoyment of that second home - around £8,500 ($11,300) p.a. Not a small sum and one which some would not consider worthwhile, even if the property was used regularly. As we have made less use of ours in the last few years - particularly as our sons and their families are now living further away - and maintenance has become more of a chore, we decided to sell, although are currently letting it. We don't need the capital that would arise on sale, but our sons will benefit at a time when they have a need to move to larger homes with their growing families.

I always said I would never ride a bike in heels, simply because it was a bridge too far--you have to go to Asia to see that, or possibly Europe. Now, everything is a bridge too far, as I'm pretty much the only one who wears heels casually and regularly anymore, so I think I probably would now if given the chance. Unfortunately, my good bicycle was stolen a few years back (from in front of our church, if you can believe that), and my other two bicycles are currently quite inaccessible due to our overly full garage. Nowadays, it's which motorized two wheeled vehicle will I ride in heels?

As you all know, I am not opposed to sending in pictures, but I am certainly not interested in any kind of "contest." It seems likely to me that the lady who came up with the idea years ago was kind of mocking us anyway, and she is no longer active. I like to think of it as more of a fashion show, rather than a beauty pageant. To be fair, my contributions are probably more like a JCPenney catalog than they are a fashion show.

I had never really considered buying investment houses and actually living in them. That would certainly be a good way for us to get rid of a lot of junk (all three of us tend toward being hoarders). But that's not how I roll. I'm going to die in this house. I like it here. Speaking of free lunches, I'm scheduled to get one tomorrow at work. With any luck, I'll get laid off the next day. With less luck, I won't get laid off the next day. Either way is fine.

Oh for sure… the greater the risk, the greater the reward, so sitting on real estate can be scary, but time everything well, and it can work well to your advantage too. Years ago, a person would buy a home to live in it, and now that notion is gone and so people buy and sell homes in order to work the most equity out of a place. My wife and I have bought and sold (7) properties in the last four years but it is not our main form of income. You are right too in calculating in interest gained from your own money. It works a little different for me and my wife, but yes, if we took the same money and invested it into a certificate of deposit for instance, we should off-set those gains in a guaranteed way. To be fair, it would have to be a CD or something guaranteed because while there are other higher forms of investments, there is no guarantee you would pick one that gained instead of loss. In looking right now, the best CD rate is for 12 months at 4%. So instead of putting $50,000 in a house over two years, we could put it in a CD for a year and then redo the CD again and get $4000 extra. So at the end of two years, we would have made $54,000. We would be silly to do that though because you are failing to calculate one important point… you have to have a place to live. With a house, you live there rent-free AND make $70,000 in financial gain in two years. If I rented an apartment I would have made $4000 on my $50,000, but also spent $24,000 on rent over the same past 2 years. But it is even worse if you live in a forever-home and never sell it. All those improvements needed for the home over the years, never get deducted so it really ends up costing the homeowner a huge amount of money. It is $50,000 spent over 20 years instead of 2, but it can never be deducted because the owner dies before they sell. And that is the real price for constantly buying and selling homes: you never get to live in a nice home that is all fixed up. Once it is nice, you pick up stakes and move on. You are not paying a mortgage or rent, and making investment money too granted, but only because you are constantly doing work on the place. There is no such thing as a free lunch…

I don't understand how cycling in the Netherlands can be considered challenging. The place is made for cycling. Europe in general is excellent - at least compared with Britain - and the Dutch and Danish in particular have it down to an art. The challenge with cycling in heels will depend on the type of bicycle you're riding - the classic Dutch commuter bike, with the chain guard, wouldn't pose a problem. With others there's a chance of getting a long stiletto heel scuffed on the chain or caught in the front shifting mechanism. Smooth leather soles could slip off some styles of pedals, especially in the rain, and obviously you couldn't ride clipless pedals but the old standard quill pedal should give you sufficient grip.

Just noticed this thread. I look at driving in heels as another daily task to master if one is to really enjoy them. Have driven thousands of miles across more than 20 states in heels over the last 30 years. Wedges are my favorites overall but have driven in both boots to different venues and both wedges and stilettos to weddings and parties. It is important to adjust the seat and know when to use cruise control. HinH

I’m always in for sending in some pics and showing my heels and outfits. It’s been hard to follow who has won in the past. We should stop trying though. HinH

Bluejay, Looked at the link and those boots look both cumfy and sturdy. Think they would go well with jeans, skirt or a dress. Don’t have as many boots as some here but live the ones I do have. HinH

Last week, I was in The Netherlands to celebrate a milestone birthday for my wife. We went to dinner on the evening of her special day and for the occasion, she selected an intimate setting about 2kms from our residence. Given that the notoriously unpredictable Dutch weather was cooperating (No rain, non-hurricane force winds, and mild temperatures) we decided to ride our bikes to the restaurant. My outfit for the evening consisted of a pair of just delivered, custom made, black leather, high-heel knee boots from Noe, my favorite brand, which just happens to be based in The Netherlands. They feature 4.25" heel with a .5" platform and ~14" top circumference. Simply put, they are "to die for" gorgeous! Pair with a very "flirty" grey skirt and black top, it was a beautiful outfit if I do say so! If anyone has ever biked in The Netherlands, they would know that doing so can be a challenge in its own right. Doing so in heels, however, adds a new level of difficulty. Admittedly, the ride to/from dinner had to be done carefully so that I did not damage the heels if the ball of the foot area slipped off the pedals, or I had to come to a sudden stop. The sole of the boots is not rubber such as that found on a pair of trainers, so their slipping off the pedals was somewhat of a frequent occurrence. Fortunately, I made it to and from dinner with no damage to the boots. And I loved being seen wearing my new boots!

I just bought a sweater dress from Land's End. I like it very much. The hemline goes to just above my knee. It's a perfect fit with a pair of brown tights and a pair of my brown, Steve Madden knee boots with a 3-1/2" block heels. I'il put a link to my new dress from Land's Endhttps://www.landsend.com/products/womens-cotton-blend-cable-crew-neck-sweater-dress/id_391327?attributes=44967,19337 Happy Heeling, bluejay

I just got these new big block heel boots in a burgundy color . The heel measures 4-3/4" with a i" platform. In my size 11 it's a very steep heel as Mirose would put it. Haven't got to wear them out yet, just too much snow here. Third snowstorm here in the last 5 days but warmer temps are on the way for Thursday. Going to get to 50 degrees F Wow!. I added a link to my new boots.https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D7GXMPYJ?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1&psc=1 Happy Heeling, bluejay

She still wears them on the show to this day.

Great boots for snow removal!

Wish I would have purchased a pair before they sold out. I am a size 11.5 and they sold quickly. Great Boots and Great Look!

From what you now say, the US tax position is very similar to that of the UK: (i) no tax on any profit on the sale of a primary residence; (ii) capital gains tax on any profit on the sale of any other property, after deducting all acquisition, improvement and sale expenses. You are, with respect, deluding yourself if you ignore the cost of the capital invested in a property bought for refurbishment and resale, whether you borrow the money or use your own accumulated funds. To take a simple example: you buy a 'doer-upper' for $100,000, spend $36,000 more evenly over the next year ($3,000 at the start of each month) in refurbishment and sell it at the end of the year for $200,000. Your apparent profit is $200,000 - $100,000 - $36,000 = $64,000. But, if you borrowed the money at (say) 6% interest, you would have had to pay out a further $7,170 to cover the borrowing: $6000 on the initial $100,000 and $1,170 on the progressive refurb costs. So, your true profit is really $64,000 - $7,170 = $62,830. Alternatively, if you funded everything from your savings (as indeed you prefer), which would have earned you 5% per annum if left invested, you are worse off as you have 'lost' interest income of some $5,975, so your true profit would then be $64,000 - $5,975 = $58,025. There could well be a situation where a longer than expected period of ownership arose (because the refurb took much longer or the property would not sell quickly) and the extra interest cost (notional or actual) took a big chunk out of the profit or even eliminated it.

Here in the United States, we can deduct anything contributing to the improvement of the property. We cannot however make that deduction until the property is sold. It does not matter if it is 2 years after purchase, or 30 years after purchase, only when it is sold and not as a yearly deduction. Because of that, it is as I said: what the improvements costs are; can and will be deducted from any income derived in the year the property was sold. We do not have to pay captain gains tax either as long as it was a primary residence. That used to have to be for at least 2 of 5 years, but that has since been rescinded by Trump in his Big Beautiful Bill. A property investor himself, this was not surprising to see. As for interest, that has no bearing on me as I do not finance any property I buy. I have a deep hatred for debt, so I do my level best to stay away from it. My aversion to financing (debt) is that I have to pay 100% of the money I borrow back, plus 3-5% of my own in the form of interest. NO THANKS! This applies to cars, houses, equipment, anything. It is like the movie War Games of the 1980's. In the end of that movie, the first about the dangers of AI, the computer states, "it seems the only way to win the war of thermonuclear war is to just not play". It is the same way with borrowing money. The only way to truly win is to just not play their games. Sorry to hear you got snow. We got a dusting last night, the first for us this year although it did get cold. One day last week it was -14 degrees below zero (F). For those elsewhere, that is -26 below zero (C) But I was pleased. My house out on this island was a summer-only house for many years. Despite this, the water in the house or in the crawl space never froze making me quite content. Other houses I own did not fare so well. Some had frozen pipes.

And now. . . for something completely different! Yesterday it snowed. Again. It's going to be one of those winters, apparently. It's not even Christmas, and I'm already wearing of removing snow. A couple of years ago, I got these vintage boots. Cobbies is the brand name. I got them because they are shearling lined, and I wanted some "heels" to wear when it was really cold. These boots feature 2 3/8" heels, which is right at about 6 cm. In other words, FLAT. Which suits me fine for the work I'm doing. I do consider them low heels in the grand scheme of thing, but they're flats. Let's be realistic. Where things get interesting is the coefficient of friction factor. The forefeet of these boots are quite grippy, while the heels, once covered in ice, are dangerously slippery. This leads to some interesting footwork, worthy of a ballerina or Latin dancer. Walking heel to toe on smooth concrete after walking in the snow can lead to catastrophe, so it's best to do the opposite--toe first. I demonstrated this to my 16 year old. He said do what you got to do. A reheeling with Vibram would probably solve this issue.

I'm not sure I understand any of that, given that the US tax system is very different in some respects to that of the UK. We cannot deduct the repair/improvement costs relating to our own (principal) residence from our taxable income, but we are not (yet!) taxed on any profit made when that residence is sold. Any other property we own is subject to tax on any resultant capital gain when disposed of - the gain being (broadly) the difference between selling price (less sale expenses) and total purchase price, i.e. original cost of land/buildings plus acquisition costs plus all improvement costs (but not simple repair/maintenance costs as arising). And of course any income from letting is taxable, after deducting most outgoings, including periodic repairs. One should be mindful too of the effective cost of the capital invested in a property, i.e. the interest paid on any mortgage loan or that which would have been earned otherwise if the property was bought for cash. In my own example I quoted earlier, I did not allow for 'lost interest' on the capital I invested, which would have been in the region of £20,000 during the period of reconstruction, so does make a fair dent in the notional profit if the property is sold. I agree that the cost of some almost invisible, but usually essential, work (such as electrics and plumbing) may not be apparent in the finished property. And the same applies to other remedial work relating to the fabric, such as wood/damp treatment. I question however how one could spend as much as $50,000 (£38,000) on even a full re-wire of a large house - four or five times what I would expect. But maybe CrushedVamp was including appliances and lighting etc, although those would scarcely be unnoticed.

North shore, sure. That makes sense! Offhand I can't think of any suburbs up there beginning with New, but then riffraff like me didn't frequent the North Shore

Yes in Sydney, but north of the bay, so not Newtown. First floor flat in an area with older brick buildings. Near shopping and doctors. Only drove past it once back in 2016. New....something

A condo? In Newtown? We can’t be talking about the same place. The Newtown I’m thinking of in Sydney is an old neighbourhood, lots of run down old terrace houses. No condos. That’s an American thing. This was was a student ghetto near the University of Sydney, with lots of Greek, Lebanese and Asian immigrants as well, and pretty rough back in the day.

My parents bought a condo for my grandmother and aunt in Newtown in the late 70's, sold it 2010's. I bought my current house in 2014 and it has more than tripled in value. When I put a new house on this lot it will then quadruple in value. That's my 2026 plan.

It was probably so they could feel a bit warmer!

I took a bus to a nearby town today to do some shopping. I had thought about bringing my practice heels and practicing but I knew I was going to be doing a lot of walking and carrying a rucksack full of shopping so I went in my chunky heeled knee boots. As you say, both for men and women trainers seem to be de rigueur these days That said, winter - boot season - is the time of year when you will see the most heels. As I was liked around the town I did see a number of women in heeled knee boots. The men, with the exception of me, were universally in ratty trainers. Although I wasn’t practicing in my 12cm stilettos, it was nice to walk about the town in my chunky heels - it’s all good grist for the mill!