14 September 2011

Canberra real estate comparison. Six McMansions worth an island?

| johnboy
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island

Imagine an island 2 miles from the centre of Copenhagen, imagine a 200 room building on that island made out of two and a half million tons of solid granite. Imagine a harbour, and a helipad.

How many suburban Canberra houses would be worth that?

Well Private Islands has Kings Island going for a bit under $10 million.

Compare and contrast to what $1.6 million will get you in Campbell.

campbell house

Nothing inflated in our market?

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Watson said :

Jethro said :

I actually have a mortgage for a house, but bought way below what I could afford when I was working full time, to the effect that I (and Mrs Jethro) don’t have to work full time.

Which now puts you in a position to criticise people who do not have that choice. If you would care to send me some info on properties that I could buy for way below I could afford, that would be very helpful.

Oh no, wait. I had to buy a 2 beddy on a tiny block in a McMansion area because that is all I can afford. Admittedly, I am on only one income, but I also only need two bedrooms. I could’ve bought a ‘renovator’s dream’ on a bigger block in Holt for a similar price, but I could not risk major repairs as all my disposable income will be going to the mortgage in the first few years.

I’m not complaining. For years I thought I would never be able to own my own home and would keep having to waste my money on rent and continue to be held hostage by landlords’ ridiculous demands.

But I would say that for lots of families the McMansion is all that’s out there that they can afford. It’s just what’s on offer for the same amount of money as an old house in the old suburbs that is bound to cost a lot of money in repairs.

Your criticism of the current home buyers sounds suspiciously like a typical spoilt baby boomer generation attitude, only you sound too young to be one.

Watson, re-reading my posts in the harsh light of day I have decided that I have been speaking like a self-righteous twat, so am now going to shut up on threads such as this one.

shadow boxer8:24 am 15 Sep 11

Jethro said :

shadow boxer said :

Sigh..

Notting Hill…

Yeh we can only work and dream,

Or I suppose we could give up and take pot shots at those that do.

I don’t have a problem with people working. I just don’t get people whose self-worth is tied up in what they do and what they own. To me, the idea that someone’s coffee machine cost 1.5 weeks of their life, or that their sofa cost 2 months of their life just seems absurd.

Hey, if it makes you happy, great. (Seriously)

More power to you brother, I could live that life style (indeed I took a year off when my twins were three just to hang around a play with them).

Sometimes when you live in Gungahlin you just can’t win and it gets old, we get accused of having small houses, big houses, crappy houses, being bogans, being snobs, being wasteful because we drive to work, being peasant (wtf ?).

I’m not sure where all the hatred comes from. Gungahlin has it’s issues but it’s moving forward with a really nice cultural mix (looking forward to our Mosque), the town centre is reaching critical mass, the shops are thriving and it has a good mix of big, little and government housing.

A big garden just isn’t important to lots of people if we have to trade off living space.

Jethro said :

I actually have a mortgage for a house, but bought way below what I could afford when I was working full time, to the effect that I (and Mrs Jethro) don’t have to work full time.

Which now puts you in a position to criticise people who do not have that choice. If you would care to send me some info on properties that I could buy for way below I could afford, that would be very helpful.

Oh no, wait. I had to buy a 2 beddy on a tiny block in a McMansion area because that is all I can afford. Admittedly, I am on only one income, but I also only need two bedrooms. I could’ve bought a ‘renovator’s dream’ on a bigger block in Holt for a similar price, but I could not risk major repairs as all my disposable income will be going to the mortgage in the first few years.

I’m not complaining. For years I thought I would never be able to own my own home and would keep having to waste my money on rent and continue to be held hostage by landlords’ ridiculous demands.

But I would say that for lots of families the McMansion is all that’s out there that they can afford. It’s just what’s on offer for the same amount of money as an old house in the old suburbs that is bound to cost a lot of money in repairs.

Your criticism of the current home buyers sounds suspiciously like a typical spoilt baby boomer generation attitude, only you sound too young to be one.

Angelina said :

Jethro, you do realise that just because you had to mortgage your life to get those things (in lieu of spending time with your kids or hiking) and that you’ve now ‘seen the light’ doesn’t mean that everyone else who has those things is in the same position as you were.

A lot of people have a lot of material things while not being in debt and managing a very comfortable work/life balance.

McMansions aren’t my style either, but plenty of people buy them because they like them and can afford them. I couldn’t stand living in a house with practically no land but some people love it. Hell I couldn’t even stand living in town, but everyone’s got their own style.

What annoys me about the ‘McMansions suck’ argument is that it starts out as an architectural critique and then minutes later descends into a general all-round slag off of any one who owns a large new-build house as a materialistic bogan who’s mortgaged up to their eyeballs and lives at work to pay for it.

It’s a massive generalisation and completely false based on the many McMansion owners I know who are not in debt, are not bogans and who rock an awesome family life. Just because you don’t have or don’t want something doesn’t mean that you have the right to look down on someone who does have or want those things.

This isn’t directed specifically at you. It’s just a general thought on the regular McMansion commentary I see.

Ok.. I use the term mortgage not so much in reference to debt, but in reference to having to out aside X number of hours a week in order to buy crap you don’t need. McMansions, European appliances, etc are unnecessary items that you need to work to buy, and that are often bought as status symbols. I would rather not work all those extra hours and simply not buy those things.

I actually have a mortgage for a house, but bought way below what I could afford when I was working full time, to the effect that I (and Mrs Jethro) don’t have to work full time.

I don’t look down on people who work full time. I do, however, have a problem with the idea that seems to be held sacred by many people that owning new shiny crap is somehow something to aspire to and, that owning said crap makes these people better.

I will use the example of someone I used to work with. Similar wage to me (when I was full-time). Wife with a similar wage to my wife’s (when she was full time). He had a kid about the same time as me, yet felt the need to not only maintain but improve his ‘lifestyle’ so that his daughter would grow up “not wanting for things”, so he sold his 3 bedder in the outer suburbs and upgraded to a McMansion. Now his kid spends 50+ hours a week in day care, he sees the kid for an hour or two a day and is too buggered on the weekend to do anything but veg out. But, hey, at least the kid doesn’t have to wait to go pee-pee, because the house has two other toilets, and at least mum gets to dress in designer clothes instead of K-Mart brand.

McMansions aren’t the disease, but they are a symptom of a society that views owning stuff as an ends in itself, and long hours at work as a virtue.

Angelina said :

Jethro, you do realise that just because you had to mortgage your life to get those things (in lieu of spending time with your kids or hiking) and that you’ve now ‘seen the light’ doesn’t mean that everyone else who has those things is in the same position as you were.

A lot of people have a lot of material things while not being in debt and managing a very comfortable work/life balance.

McMansions aren’t my style either, but plenty of people buy them because they like them and can afford them. I couldn’t stand living in a house with practically no land but some people love it. Hell I couldn’t even stand living in town, but everyone’s got their own style.

What annoys me about the ‘McMansions suck’ argument is that it starts out as an architectural critique and then minutes later descends into a general all-round slag off of any one who owns a large new-build house as a materialistic bogan who’s mortgaged up to their eyeballs and lives at work to pay for it.

It’s a massive generalisation and completely false based on the many McMansion owners I know who are not in debt, are not bogans and who rock an awesome family life. Just because you don’t have or don’t want something doesn’t mean that you have the right to look down on someone who does have or want those things.

This isn’t directed specifically at you. It’s just a general thought on the regular McMansion commentary I see.

Ok.. I use the term mortgage not so much in reference to debt, but in reference to working to buy crap you don’t need. McMansions, European appliances, etc are unnecessary items that you need to work to buy. I would rather not work to not buy.

I actually have a mortgage for a house, but bought way below what I could afford when I was working full time, to the effect that I don’t have to work full time.

I don’t look down on people who work full time. I do, however, look down on people who seem to believe that owning new shiny crap is somehow something to aspire to and who through their words or actions seems to believe that them owning said crap makes them better people.

Jethro, you do realise that just because you had to mortgage your life to get those things (in lieu of spending time with your kids or hiking) and that you’ve now ‘seen the light’ doesn’t mean that everyone else who has those things is in the same position as you were.

A lot of people have a lot of material things while not being in debt and managing a very comfortable work/life balance.

McMansions aren’t my style either, but plenty of people buy them because they like them and can afford them. I couldn’t stand living in a house with practically no land but some people love it. Hell I couldn’t even stand living in town, but everyone’s got their own style.

What annoys me about the ‘McMansions suck’ argument is that it starts out as an architectural critique and then minutes later descends into a general all-round slag off of any one who owns a large new-build house as a materialistic bogan who’s mortgaged up to their eyeballs and lives at work to pay for it.

It’s a massive generalisation and completely false based on the many McMansion owners I know who are not in debt, are not bogans and who rock an awesome family life. Just because you don’t have or don’t want something doesn’t mean that you have the right to look down on someone who does have or want those things.

This isn’t directed specifically at you. It’s just a general thought on the regular McMansion commentary I see.

shadow boxer said :

Sigh..

Notting Hill…

Yeh we can only work and dream,

Or I suppose we could give up and take pot shots at those that do.

I don’t have a problem with people working. I just don’t get people whose self-worth is tied up in what they do and what they own. To me, the idea that someone’s coffee machine cost 1.5 weeks of their life, or that their sofa cost 2 months of their life just seems absurd.

Hey, if it makes you happy, great. (Seriously)

But I’ve done the 50 hours work week and accumulating lots of crap gig. Now, that I’m working a 20 hour week, spending time with my kids as they grow up and finding the time to pursue things I love like hiking, camping and gardening I can’t believe I ever thought mortgaging my life to the accumulation of possessions was worth it.

shadow boxer10:00 pm 14 Sep 11

Sigh..

Notting Hill…

Yeh we can only work and dream,

Or I suppose we could give up and take pot shots at those that do.

poetix said :

Captains Flat is probably the most reasonably priced place near Canberra, but it’s a fair drive. And I have heard that there are problems with the water, although I don’t really know.

You’re right, you don’t really know. The only problem with the water is that it’s really expensive. The water is drawn from the large dam. The dam is on the Molonglo River but upstream of the derelict mine, so is largely free of the pollutants from it. Those pollutants flow into the Molonglo River, eventually into Lake Burley Griffin and the Murray-Darling sytem. Along with our sewage. No need to thank us…

Prior to the commissioning of a $2 million water treatment plant (in 2002 I think), the water was discoloured, but this was probably because of vegetation in the dam (dead trees etc.) and also rusty galvanised pipes, and not mine pollutants.

Houses here are cheap, but tend to be old and of iffy quality. Blocks tends to be small (starting at 450 square meres).

IP (in Captains Flat)

poetix said :

There are two bedroom monocretes and weatherboards in O’Connor and fibro places in Narrabundah. But these are ‘inner’ suburbs so they are still expensive. For O’Connor I would think about $650,000. Not many first home buyers could afford that.

There’s something wrong with the world if first home buyers set their sights on a prized location like O’Connor, quickly find there are no houses they can afford, throw their arms up in the air and decry the unaffordability of Canberra real estate (I know that’s not the point you were making, Poetix – I’m just using your post as a springboard to my own rant)

Traditionally, if you’re starting out in property and not in a high paying job, you’ve got to aim lower. Either an apartment/townhouse in a relatively central location, or a house in a less desirable suburb / Queanbeyan. There are plenty of properties around going for under $400k or even $350 at the moment (don’t look at asking prices, look at sales histories). Yes, they may not be in the inner north/south and they may not be 3b+ freestanding houses with all the latest modcons, and some of your friends may be reluctant to visit because your new home because there are bogans with vicious dogs living next door, but you’ve got to start somewhere. Alternatively, you can always keep renting (nothing wrong with that), or get rich fast through narcotics trafficking/people smuggling/advertising etc.

Having said that, yes house prices in Australia are much higher than in most comparable countries, but Canberra is no more expensive than other Australian major cities with employment opportunities (in Sydney even fibro houses in slum ghettos like Bankstown go for $500,000 these days, so a house in Forde or Belconnen for the same money ain’t bad)

shadow boxer said :

I think your pettycoat is showing,…..

My decision to wear women’s underwear underneath my clothes remains my business.

shadow boxer8:47 pm 14 Sep 11

haha, wouldn’t buy you half a house in central London though.

Finsbury Park near the Islington, pretty close in, 300-350K will get you something decent. Well, it did last year when I was living there.

Really ? thats not to bad, I had a quick look and came back with this

http://www.foxtons.co.uk/properties/uk-london-notting-hill-167/properties-for-sale-in-notting-hill.html

shadow boxer8:44 pm 14 Sep 11

Jethro said :

shadow boxer said :

yellowsnow said :

for examples of McMansions (or poor taste/excess money more broadly) see here:

http://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/act/sale-residential/omalley/121476610

or here:

http://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/act/sale-residential/harcourt-hill/121899910

Most of those houses in Harcourt hill appear to ooze quality on quite reasonable blocks.

Wish I could afford some of them but good luck to those who can. I think the term McMansion refers more to mortgage stressed couples who bought beyond their means than any problem with the houses themselves that tend to be filled with the finest eurpean appliances, furnishings and swimming pools.

Without which you will find it harder to impress Xavier and Adelaide’s friends’ parents.

I think your pettycoat is showing,…..

xperfect_darkx said :

Someones been reading cracked.com

I read widely!

shadow boxer said :

yellowsnow said :

for examples of McMansions (or poor taste/excess money more broadly) see here:

http://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/act/sale-residential/omalley/121476610

or here:

http://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/act/sale-residential/harcourt-hill/121899910

Most of those houses in Harcourt hill appear to ooze quality on quite reasonable blocks.

Wish I could afford some of them but good luck to those who can. I think the term McMansion refers more to mortgage stressed couples who bought beyond their means than any problem with the houses themselves that tend to be filled with the finest eurpean appliances, furnishings and swimming pools.

Without which you will find it harder to impress Xavier and Adelaide’s friends’ parents.

xperfect_darkx7:46 pm 14 Sep 11

Someones been reading cracked.com

It’s about as glamorous as Nauru, and is covered in weird concrete constructions as well as the dank fortress. Being an artificial island, it has no wilderness etc. It’s windswept and ugly. I’d far rather own ten McMansions in Campbell than that island!

gentoopenguin7:01 pm 14 Sep 11

I bet the Copenhagen option has better insulation without a pink batt in sight…

OpenYourMind4:58 pm 14 Sep 11

When I hear the term McMansion, it always seems to be said with a snear and a little underlying jealousy or snobbishness. Big house, small block is not my style, but I get why this appeals to some people. Solar passive is wonderful, but many of the designs don’t appeal to everyone – an example being the necessity for big north facing eaves and a dark inside thermal mass.

Similarly, I drive a small car, but I get why some people choose a 4WD even though they aren’t going off road.

Why get so bent out of shape by other people’s choices?

shadow boxer4:01 pm 14 Sep 11

Ben_Dover said :

$1.5 million would buy you Cornwall.

haha, wouldn’t buy you half a house in central London though.

neanderthalsis3:49 pm 14 Sep 11

poetix said :

EvanJames said :

poetix said :

Captains Flat is probably the most reasonably priced place near Canberra, but it’s a fair drive. And I have heard that there are problems with the water, although I don’t really know.

Yass still has some good prices under 300k for a 3 bedroom house and it’s only 45 mins up the Barton Hwy. Many drivers in outer ‘burbs of Syd, Bris and Melb would love that sort of commute.

$1.5 million would buy you Cornwall.

EvanJames said :

poetix said :

Sorry EvanJames, I managed to put some of my comment about James Bond into your sensible comment. I don’t know how I did that.

I hadn’t even noticed until you mentioned it!

I’ve been watching that Renovators show, and there’s a fibro in Blacktown (or is it the weatherboard?) that cost like $300k+. We just don’t have that here. Even Quangers’ fibros are nudging around $400k, generally.

So we don’t have that breadth of market. If a person’s willing to start humble and work and save, their options in the $200-300k range are a flat in Queanbeyan, rather than a fibro in Blacktown.

Captains Flat is probably the most reasonably priced place near Canberra, but it’s a fair drive. And I have heard that there are problems with the water, although I don’t really know.

“Compare and contrast to what $1.6 million will get you in Campbell.”

A 3d picture of a house???

Ben_Dover said :

johnboy said :

A mcmansion is a large house on a standard suburban block.

Usually designed in exceedingly poor taste, and totally without sympathy to or consideration of neighbouring existing building design.

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?hl=en&ll=-35.33728,149.092573&spn=0.000018,0.020556&t=h&z=17&vpsrc=6&layer=c&cbll=-35.337365,149.092508&panoid=gQlxMmOtHM2JIjstxpq2bQ&cbp=12,103.16,,0,0

OMG, That’s my house you…

Nah, just kidding, but in all seriosness, i really do pitty the neighbors of the owner of this cashed-up-bogan-box, it really looks like: “cherryl thought it was real classy and she won, like, lotto, so she made it”

johnboy said :

A mcmansion is a large house on a standard suburban block.

Usually designed in exceedingly poor taste, and totally without sympathy to or consideration of neighbouring existing building design.

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?hl=en&ll=-35.33728,149.092573&spn=0.000018,0.020556&t=h&z=17&vpsrc=6&layer=c&cbll=-35.337365,149.092508&panoid=gQlxMmOtHM2JIjstxpq2bQ&cbp=12,103.16,,0,0

shadow boxer2:01 pm 14 Sep 11

yellowsnow said :

for examples of McMansions (or poor taste/excess money more broadly) see here:

http://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/act/sale-residential/omalley/121476610

or here:

http://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/act/sale-residential/harcourt-hill/121899910

Most of those houses in Harcourt hill appear to ooze quality on quite reasonable blocks.

Wish I could afford some of them but good luck to those who can. I think the term McMansion refers more to mortgage stressed couples who bought beyond their means than any problem with the houses themselves that tend to be filled with the finest eurpean appliances, furnishings and swimming pools.

poetix said :

Sorry EvanJames, I managed to put some of my comment about James Bond into your sensible comment. I don’t know how I did that.

I hadn’t even noticed until you mentioned it!

I’ve been watching that Renovators show, and there’s a fibro in Blacktown (or is it the weatherboard?) that cost like $300k+. We just don’t have that here. Even Quangers’ fibros are nudging around $400k, generally.

So we don’t have that breadth of market. If a person’s willing to start humble and work and save, their options in the $200-300k range are a flat in Queanbeyan, rather than a fibro in Blacktown.

Keijidosha said :

More specifically, a McMansion is a house built using the fast food mantra: Produce it fast, cheap and always upsize. Package it up and sell to those with a big apetite and little regard for taste.

http://thingsboganslike.com/2010/02/02/mcmansions/

Awesome! That’s exactly what I understood McMansions to be too: big houses on little blocks, built to a price budget, and where possible make sure to flaunt the fact that you have intentionally done exactly the opposite of sustainable & passive solar design.

poetix said :

EvanJames said :

Everything’s inflated in our market. In 1992, you could get a 3 bedroom standard house in Kambah for $140,000. Look at what that house costs now, yet wages have not increased to the same extent.

look at the lines of cars commuting back and forth from Cooma, Goulburn and Yass. Canberra people, forced to live outside Canberra by the unaffordable prices.

Incidentally, the island looks like something from a James Bond film.

Unlike Sydney, which has little fibros and things in outer suburbs, our basic housing starts at brick 3 bedroom homes. And if you can find almost half a million dollars, you can have one.

There are two bedroom monocretes and weatherboards in O’Connor and fibro places in Narrabundah. But these are ‘inner’ suburbs so they are still expensive. For O’Connor I would think about $650,000. Not many first home buyers could afford that.

The island looks very James Bond.

Sorry EvanJames, I managed to put some of my comment about James Bond into your sensible comment. I don’t know how I did that.

EvanJames said :

Everything’s inflated in our market. In 1992, you could get a 3 bedroom standard house in Kambah for $140,000. Look at what that house costs now, yet wages have not increased to the same extent.

look at the lines of cars commuting back and forth from Cooma, Goulburn and Yass. Canberra people, forced to live outside Canberra by the unaffordable prices.

Incidentally, the island looks like something from a James Bond film.

Unlike Sydney, which has little fibros and things in outer suburbs, our basic housing starts at brick 3 bedroom homes. And if you can find almost half a million dollars, you can have one.

There are two bedroom monocretes and weatherboards in O’Connor and fibro places in Narrabundah. But these are ‘inner’ suburbs so they are still expensive. For O’Connor I would think about $650,000. Not many first home buyers could afford that.

The island looks very James Bond.

troll-sniffer1:26 pm 14 Sep 11

yellowsnow said :

for examples of McMansions (or poor taste/excess money more broadly) see here:

http://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/act/sale-residential/omalley/121476610

or here:

http://www.allhomes.com.au/ah/act/sale-residential/harcourt-hill/121899910

+1

Holden Caulfield said :

But they’ve been sucked into this belief that unless they build a house of that size nobody will want to buy it when they come to sell.

Which is the other thing… people don’t build homes any more, to live in. They’re “investments”. And they look like bland hotel rooms as a result. People don’t live in them, they occupy them for a time.

Everything’s inflated in our market. In 1992, you could get a 3 bedroom standard house in Kambah for $140,000. Look at what that house costs now, yet wages have not increased to the same extent.

look at the lines of cars commuting back and forth from Cooma, Goulburn and Yass. Canberra people, forced to live outside Canberra by the unaffordable prices.

Unlike Sydney, which has little fibros and things in outer suburbs, our basic housing starts at brick 3 bedroom homes. And if you can find almost half a million dollars, you can have one.

johnboy said :

A mcmansion is a large house on a standard suburban block.

More specifically, a McMansion is a house built using the fast food mantra: Produce it fast, cheap and always upsize. Package it up and sell to those with a big apetite and little regard for taste.

http://thingsboganslike.com/2010/02/02/mcmansions/

There’s a pretty thorough examination of the McManson phenomenon on Wikipedia, might be easier to just look it up rather than asking us bewidered questions.

Deref said :

johnboy said :

A mcmansion is a large house on a standard suburban block.

Make that half a suburban block. Add “cheaply built to maximise block coverage and interior space at the expense of quality and with no no consideration for climatic suitability.”

And with a 4WD or two out front.

Holden Caulfield12:22 pm 14 Sep 11

“5 bedroom Country McMansion surrounded by scrub grass in Sutton for example.”

Apparently this new name also applies to houses outside the suburbs. Sorry to harp on, but how anyone can possibly think owning a house (as opposed to an apartment) is a bad thing amazes me. Presumably it’s people who live in one.

Haha, best you get over it. And given the term has been in use for probably 10 years or more I’m not so sure why your knickers are in such a twist.

McMansion also refers to our growing consumer-based society where the children of parents who grew up in modest sized houses with little in the way of luxuries cannot imagine their first home be anything less than a 4 bedroom new build with a plasma in each room and probably two in the obligatory home theatre room.

Also refer to post #10.

IIRC Australia has the largest average house size (new builds) of any western country. My retired in-laws are building a new home that has 4 bedrooms and 3 living rooms, in addition to an open kitchen/dining room.

Why? It is madness. They don’t need a house anywhere near that big. But they’ve been sucked into this belief that unless they build a house of that size nobody will want to buy it when they come to sell.

johnboy said :

A mcmansion is a large house on a standard suburban block.

Make that half a suburban block. Add “cheaply built to maximise block coverage and interior space at the expense of quality and with no no consideration for climatic suitability.”

The McMansion bubble is going to burst – the only question is when.

Further to Johnboy’s comment, they tend to be mass produced with little quality. Like fast food.

johnboy said :

A mcmansion is a large house on a standard suburban block.

My favourite is the term ‘garage-mahal’ 🙂

Holden Caulfield12:05 pm 14 Sep 11

johnboy said :

A mcmansion is a large house on a standard suburban block.

Would you like to upsize your number of rooms for an extra 50¢?

A mcmansion is a large house on a standard suburban block.

*points knowingly at the screen*

It definitely looks ‘shopped. I can tell from some of the pixels and from seeing quite a few ‘shops in my time.

I could have bought an island and mansion in Nicaragua for $250k.
The people there couldn’t believe my house in Australia was cost more than that on less land with no island 🙂

OK so Nicaragua isn’t on the top of everyones list, but its a nice place and many Americans are flocking to that part of the world to retire.

Pretty sure that house is ‘Shopped.

you don’t even need to go that far. you can buy 10+ bedroom 1800’s mansion (plus guest house) estates in the French countryside for only 2-3 million Euro, compared with a 5 bedroom Country McMansion surrounded by scrub grass in Sutton for example.

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