Instead of writing a blog about balconies, I think realtor.com should post about how realtors across America fleece the consumer for 6% thanks to their monopoly practices (just because they can, on an infrequent but important purchase) and keep on charging a percentage of the transaction value when in fact all they do is provide a fixed quantity of labor for selling/buying a house no matter what the size or cost (and by the way, all the while colluding between the seller and buyer's agents to inflate purchase prices).

How about that for an FAQ?

I got fucked by my last realtor so I got licensed - I’ll be my own agent for my next purchase.

How much work was that (getting qualified) and then how much work to be your own agent during the transaction? Any guides on how to do it? Thanks!

Just look for licensing requirements in your state online. There are plenty of courses, study guides, etc.

It took about a month of studying part time. I took a proctored test, passed a background check, and I’m all set.

I haven’t used it yet. Planning to sometime in the next few years.

Add Title Insurance fleecing to that as well.

There's a setup often seen on older UK and European city building - full height doors above the ground floor with a hook or pulley at roof level, so heavy objects can be lifted to upper floors with a rope or chain fall. Haylofts for barns worked that way, and the concept was copied into urban design. These are sometimes retrofitted with a railing, so people don't fall out.

Faux balconies are an imitation of this. Sometimes, on gentrified industrial brick buildings, builders actually add the hook at the cornice line. It may not be rated for actual lifting. I've seen this in Southwark, in London.

It's one of those things where the original purpose has been forgotten, but imitation continues.

There is whole district here, called https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speicherstadt which has those things for real. It has UNESCO World Heritage status now. Interestingly for the building of this, about 1,100 houses were torn down, with about 20,000 total residents who were displaced... what about their heritage?

Such doors, often with a hoisting beam above, are also seen on older telephone central office buildings in the U.S., for the same reason: they made it easier for Western Electric to install full-height (11′ 6″) distributing frames and other large equipment on upper floors.

In “A Pattern Language” Alexander says people almost never use balconies unless they’re at least six feet deep.

Except in any big city, when it's the only space outside you have.

But even then you can’t go on it. There is a clothes rack, a bike and a dead plant, all contrary to what was agreed with the building body corporate/housing association.

I think in Germany (and I guess worldwide), those fake/faux balconies are also a fire safety measurement for evacuation via a ladder. But I guess that's not relevant for a realtor, only for "why the heck would you need that"

I am also German and I never heard of that. In some buildings (I've seen that in office buildings) there are special windows for fire exit. Rooms with these windows must not be locked.

While I've never seen a fake balcony, a faux balcony (actually literally called "french" balcony in German) is pretty widespread because it is damned cheap to build.