S08.E16: PACE Financing for Home Renovations

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Main topic:  PACE Financing for Home Renovations

Also: Putin's take on happiness; Tokyo Olympics; better names for dogs from the Westminster Dog Show; the winner of best in show at the Westminster dog show breaks newscasters' brains

Original air date 2021.06.20

[Annber03]

Ha, joke's on you, John. I'm a 36 year old who's already well used to the idea of not owning a home because my parents never owned one, either. We've been renters my entire life. So I long ago figured that'd be the case with me as well. 

And, honestly, after this episode, I'm actually not too bothered about that fact. Not to say that renting a place doesn't have its own risks and problems, of course, it certainly does-and this show's discussed those issues before. But there's aspects of homeowning that sound equally as stressful and scary, if not more so, because of just how much you stand to lose in some ways. Plus, not being anything close to a financial expert, all those aspects of homeowning make my head hurt just thinking about them, too. This segment is a perfect example of that. So if it's between this and renting an apartment, I think I might prefer the latter. 

In other topics, Japanese anime really is wild, isn't it? Also, aw, fluffy doggies :D!

[scarynikki12]

The condom commercial is one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen.

Hi George! Glad the snapping bit is still going on.

I don’t own either but this makes me worry for my parents. They’re moving back to California in a couple of years and my mom is susceptible to this kind of thing. My mom is always getting ideas for home renovations and I can see her going along with something like this. Fortunately my dad watches the show so I’ll make sure she sees it too.

I’m going to try and use Kcuf Ffo in my life.

Aww Wasabi is adorable. Little fluff just had a blow out is all. 

[JustHereForFood]

That condom commercial was great, as was the guy protesting the olympics in that video.

"kcuf ffo" makes me wish I had Zatanna's powers (casting spells by speaking backwards). That's what I'd be saying all the time.

[RedbirdNelly]

it was great to see the Clooney bit again. 

It's always annoying to know if it's on the show, something is wrong. You know it won't be a feel good hour on how great this program is.

 

[Victor the Crab]

If I were a car dealer, I'd take up last week's offer, where Ollie was giving away his idea for a TV commercial, on the condition he bring in the ear plugging guy who jumps sideways into the water from last night to be the spokesperson!

[swanpride]

All the dog shaming going on in the episode...I mean, yeah, it looks like a walking wig, but that doesn't mean that a walking wig is ugly. (thus said, dog shows are imho a big pile of nonsense anyway, I never really saw the point of awarding the most useless dog out there - useless because often what gives the dogs big points are things which make it difficult for them to move). 

I wonder what kind of lobbying was necessary to make PACE yet another rip off. But I am also wondering how the "your house borrowed it" nonsense worked. A house which has no longer a loan on it is the greatest thing one can have, the last thing I would want to do is, well, put a loan on it. 

(Regarding the rent vs buying question...depends. If the laws which protect the renters are strong (not the case in the US, but in some other countries), it can actually be a good option, especially if you don't intend to settle down yet. On the other hand, property is overall a pretty good investments if you choose carefully. And which choosing carefully, I mean: Don't buy a house in the suburbs, but a nice little house in an area with great infrastructure, yeah, that is worth the investments. Just consider that a house always comes with a lot of costs). 

[peeayebee]

I haven't seen Crying Pam in a while. Ahhh, the memories.

So, again, still, I'm complaining about the HBO site not streaming the entire ep, or the ep at.all. All I've been able to watch is the PACE segment on YouTube. If anyone can link to any of the other segments, I would appreciate it.

[ahisma]

36 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

If anyone can link to any of the other segments, I would appreciate it.

I found the Putin-Olympics-condom bits here (scroll to bottom for the video): https://www.rawstory.com/john-oliver-reschedule-the-olympics-for-safety/

[Hanahope]

I love John Oliver digging into issues that the vast majority of people have never heard about and had no idea how bad they are.  this is one of them.  Shame on Obama for promoting something that is so easily corrupted and misleading low income people.  shame on congress for allowing such loopholes in the program.  I am hopeful that most people doing this are honest and it actually helps most people, but it sure sounds easily manipulated and preying on those without any recourse.

 

[peeayebee]

17 hours ago, ahisma said:

I found the Putin-Olympics-condom bits here (scroll to bottom for the video): https://www.rawstory.com/john-oliver-reschedule-the-olympics-for-safety/

I'm too late. HBO has blocked the video. AND it's still unavailable on their streaming site. :x

But thanks for trying, ahisma.

[meowmommy]

Crying Pam always got a bad rap.  She tried not to cry on camera and they kept the mike open.  Now, John should have shown Hildi's hay on the walls, or Genevieve's moss walls.  Those were true disasters.

I am a low income homeowner and I've looked seriously into solar systems.  I'm in AZ and of course our summers are brutal, so it would be nice to get some relief from the horrible electric bills.  And everywhere you look, there are signs about "free solar."  Well, that's a crock of crap.  They are very vague in their explanation of the actual costs.   A lot of the so-called free relies on federal and state tax credits to reduce your income tax burden, but low income homeowners pay low or no income taxes anyway, so the credits are useless and the systems can cost as much as $20K.  I'd have to live to be about 150 in order to recoup $20K.

Can't ever complain about a George Clooney sighting.

Other shows are going back to a studio audience.  Is John planning to escape the void any time soon?

[DoctorAtomic]

People going nuts in Japan over the Olympics is no joke. I watch Japanese news every morning. I knew they didn't have the authority to cancel, but with such a low vaccinated population less than one month out to open it's a huge risk. 

[peeayebee]

I don't understand why the vaccination rate in Japan is low. They were into wearing masks way before this pandemic, so I would think they'd believe in what causes infection and what can prevent it.

[DoctorAtomic]

John only said that the rate is low, but - There's a law about their own 'FDA' approving the vaccinations, and they had problems acquiring them because the nation isn't manufacturing them. They're into wearing masks, but there's a whole host of social factors; e.g., all night bars/karoke and the sheer population density in Tokyo. They didn't telecommute until way later either. 

[Lantern7]

I'm sure Wasabi is a good dog. It's just that it feels like dogs with dumb-looking breed standards wind up winning over dogs that actually look like dogs. The Pekingese standard is basically this: "If he runs any slower, he'd be going backwards."

Commercials for condoms in Japan where the main guy looks like our Ash Ketchum is one thing. But then the "TO BE CONDOM" thing reminds me of the "TO BE CONTINUED" graphic that slides in at the end of every episode of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.

I'm hoping Obama tries to fix things with PACE. I know he's a spokesman and that shady contractors are out of his control, but he seems like a guy that would be upset for pitching something that has caused lots of problems.

Edited June 26, 2021 by Lantern7

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Talking about how to view the episode (legally).  Take it to Small Talk, where all of your off topic dreams come true! 

[Kel Varnsen]

That whole PACE thing sounds weird. The worst part about it is it doesn't seem like it would be to hard to do it a lot better. There are a several different energy efficiency upgrade programs in Canada. A lot of them require you to have an energy audit done by a 3rd party which tells you what kind of improvements would be good for your house. Then when you do those the auditor comes back and confirms and you get government money. Or if you are upgrading equipment you sometimes get rebates for higher efficiency stuff. Like a few years ago we needed a new AC and the government/electronic company rebate made the high efficiency model about the same price as the mid level model. So why is the PACE thing so much more complicated.

The only joke that didn't work for me was John's line about how you wouldn't expect an accountant to tile your bathroom so contractors shouldn't be expected to understand this program. Except if these companies are as big as John says I doubt the sales people who pitch the program to homeowners are the same people doing the actual work. Just like the guy who changes oil at the dealership where I bought my car probably doesn't have a full understanding of their financing and rebate programs. So if the sales people aren't explaining the program properly, it is more likely intentional, not because they don't know.