title: How to set a default attribute value for a Laravel / Eloquent model?
body: <p>If I try declaring a property, like this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>public $quantity = 9;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>...it doesn't work, because it is not considered an "attribute", but merely a property of the model class. Not only this, but also I am blocking access to the actually real and existent "quantity" attribute.</p>
  
  <p>What should I do, then?</p>