If it seems like the youngest generation of adults are missing out on starting their lives, and becoming real grown-ups… it might be because they are.
And despite what you might be thinking, it’s not just a case of fixation on vapid social media, cultural decline or laziness among millenials that is to blame. There is definitely a problem with the economic realities of the day that is making a major contribution to this growing problem as well.
The destruction of opportunity has been perhaps the biggest consequence of the economic crisis of 2008, and it continues to undermine the majority of Americans.
Housing and rent prices have soared, along with other sharp increases in the cost of living. Meanwhile, student loan debt has been absolutely crushing (and threatens to topple the economic system once again) and college graduates have been mismatched with a severe shortage of good jobs and decent wages – forcing far too many into competing for menial or basic service jobs.
This and more has put the decent lifestyles of the Middle Class, long the norm for most Americans, out of reach, particularly those just setting out in the world. Hard work be damned.
And thus, a massive wave of arrested development and immaturity has been bred at the hands of the bankers.
Homeownership is statistically at its lowest rate (63.7%) since the 60s, while the rate for those under 30 is at or near the all-time lowest point since the records began.
This article in the Daily Mail focuses on the issue in Britain, but the same trends are definitely happening in the United States and many other parts of the world:
Home ownership among young people is at its lowest level since records began, according to new figures released today.
Only 45 per cent of 20 to 30 year-olds in Britain currently own their own property, as critics say soaring home and rental prices are keeping them locked out of the housing market.
[…]
It has raised concerns that young people are being forced to delay settling down and starting a family because they are still living with their parents or in shared housing.
Young people living with their parents are also at a record high, with half of 20-to-24-year-olds still at home, a fifth of 25-to-29 year-olds and 8 per cent of people aged 30 to 34, according to official figures from 2013.
Labour’s shadow minister for young people Gloria De Piero said: ‘But soaring house prices, eye-watering rents and a lack of decently paid jobs are keeping young people off the property ladder.
The problem goes well beyond young people, and well beyond just the statistics.
Traditional home owners – i.e. families and couples – have been displaced in the current market.
Housing prices (and rent in partial tandem) have been driven up sharply since 2008 largely by Wall Street speculators, fueled by cheap QE credit, which has created a huge bubble that is presently endangering the global economy. Meanwhile, the jobs recovery never really happened, and the value of higher education – in terms of both educational standards and return on investment through job advancement – has deteriorated sharply. The combined results are absolutely devastating.
Many analysts have pointed to the fact that an enormous societal shift is underway – average people in general are losing the ability to advance in the world by owning property and other assets that can earn them income, and increase their status and personal power in life.
As economic expert Charles Hugh Smith recently explained:
In traditional feudal systems, serfs were the landless peasantry who worked the land of their feudal lords in exchange for protection. In our present-day neofeudal system, serfdom has a different definition: present-day serfs own little or no productive capital and have few opportunities to ever acquire any.
[…] what makes the present system neofeudal is the central banks: by extending essentially unlimited credit at near-zero interest rates to financiers and corporations, the central banks have given the top .01% the ability to outbid mere savers for income-producing assets (i.e. productive assets).
[…]
If a person is unable to earn enough to save, and is unable to compete with financiers and corporations for productive assets, that person is a modern-day serf, a debt-serf indentured to banks and stripped of opportunities to own the sort of assets the Financial Nobility use to accumulate ever-greater wealth and income.
The problem isn’t just a tilted table for the rich, or a generation of millenials spoiled on decadence. The biggest problem of all is the erosion of opportunity.
With enough momentum, this will leave the bulk of the masses almost entirely dependent upon government, and at the mercy of landlords, business moguls and potentially-predatory billionaires.
Again, this is not just a fleeting problem or a sensational topic for the headlines. We are witnessing a literal shift back to feudalism – a scourge that was largely eradicated in the Western world during the exit from the dark ages.
Modern Americans have been conditioned to give up and stick a hand out. And the bankers all too happy to have them line up and fall under their yoke.
As Thomas Jefferson is quoted:
“I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principles of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale”
Read more:
The Great Middle Class Extinction: “95% of New Homes Built for Rich or Poor”
Central Banks Have Pushed the Middle Class Down into Neofeudal Serfdom
“By Any Standard, Wealth Inequality At Historic Levels” Since Recovery From 2008 Economic Crisis
Sorry to be off topic right at the start: Get prepared NOW, the cat’s out of the bag and the assault on the freedom loving Americans will intensify beyond any reasonable imagination, why, to get them to fire the first shot to start Civil unrest so to take that from their blame, now they can say see we did not start it. Hold your fire till you see the whites of their eyes.
They want young adults and everyone else living in the stack n pack high rise slums or the FEMA camps eventually. Most older people really don’t have their homes paid for yet either and are subject to seizure. My advice is to blow the brains out of people that want your home whether it’s paid for or not because tptb want them all so bury their filthy corpses six feet deep.
You never actually own your own home. Never.
While you are paying the mortgage the banksters own it. After you payoff your mortgage, the government owns it, and continues to charge you rent (a.k.a. “property taxes”).
Oh, the same elitist group owns both the banks and the .gov so it is they to whom you are indebted for life.
Hence the blowing their brains out part. It’s mine til I’m dead. If more thought that way they couldn’t do shit to any of us because they’d know they would be killed.
make sure you bury them DEEP….’cause DEEP-DOWN, bankers are good people.
Yea, and it sucks,
Freedom my ass
All I can do is get ready and I have decided that I will help my neighbors if they face the enemy first. They are like minded anyway.
Poor baby has to pay property taxes. Whaa! If you don’t mind doing without roads, sewer, water, fire and police then move somewhere where no one pays for anything. Like some shit hole mid east country. You will feel right at home. You guys sound like welfare people want everything for free. You probably rent anyway.
That’s not the point chowderhead… the point is that the government taxes EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING!!!!! What you earn, what you buy and where you live. And if you don’t pay, your property tax, you’ll be homeless… yeah, “they hate us for our freedoms.” Grow up.
People like you are the reason we’re in the mess we’re in.
You sound like a government agent scumbag, JOHN
only a simpleton, or a liberal(wait, ddid i just repeat myself?) thinks taxes aren’t too high…or that the gubmint spends their tax money WISELY…of COARSE john’s a gubmint troll.
Caucasian, eventually I’ll bugout to the BOL before the balloon goes up. Once I leave the city, I won’t care what happens to the place I currently call ‘home’.
“The biggest problem of all is the erosion of opportunity.”
The loss of opportunity in America is the direct consequence of FREE TRADE. You cannot grow an economy when the PTB are facilitating the theft of the American means of production ie its industrial and manufacturing base; and shipping it offshore.
NO Lame Stream Media economists; nor any Alt Media economist ever mentions this fact in their diagnosis of the economy when discussing the ills besetting the American people.
FREE TRADE is not FAIR TRADE. FREE TRADE is not a FREEDOM. FREE TRADE is MANAGED TRADE and it is managed to the destruction of this Nation. 🙁
DK, bingo! Add to the erosion of opportunity, the erasure of the American Dream of a golden retirement, that dream was flushed away nearly overnight with the advent of lousy 401ks that replaced once-great retirement pension plans.
Corporate Amerika is what led the demise of America as we knew it.
I’m digging in where I am BH.
The problem in America is Democrats and progressive liberals.
In The UK they have the same problem but are many years ahead of us in the failure of a society.
I’m in the UK, and once you get outside of Londistan and other such obvious cess pits – I disagree totally with your assessment of a failing society. The very areas of the country that the elites seem to sneer at are exactly where if you are smart, you wanna be. It’s still possible to live a decent life around sane, reasonable people who have not totally succumbed to consumer zombiefication.
There is a war against the traditional working classes – but its in that old fashioned notion of an honest days work for an honest day’s pay that the young can still find a way to live sensibly and raise a family.
The tools are there, but we older adults are still caught up in the old ways to help them. Start by Home Schooling – only way now to raise youngsters with critical thinking skills. Ensure their maths, English and basic life skills are covered to a decent standard. I’m always shocked at the number of college grads who can’t seem to total up their grocery list or count back change. If they aren’t genuinely academically gifted (ya know straight A* star students capable of getting full ride scholarships at top schools) encourage them to learn a practical hands on trade at 18, pref a skill that can’t be shipped off overseas too easily.
Plumber, car mechanic, nurse – all are jobs where you need a physical local body to do the work. They can start learning the basics from around 12 onwards so jumping a few years on their schooled peers in terms of becoming truly excellent at what they do and building a great local rep. By 20 they should be able to earn a living. Keep them at home and charge them market rate rent. Use these years to help them go from being an apprentice to self-employed and in charge of their own destiny. In the old days of inter-generational living, the concept of extended childhood didn’t exist – everyone pitched & grafted, so no 30 year olds living in the basement mooching! You’ll find there is mutual respect where there is mutual input into the smooth running of the home.
At 25 kick em out with what you saved for them out of that market rate rent less genuine keep. (Making a profit out of your kids isn’t cool!). Tell em to go buy a solid home somewhere cheap with that down payment you made sure they got.
Here in the UK you can waste £300K upwards on a 1 or 2 bed shoebox apartment in Londistan OR you can take around £7K as a 10% deposit and find a nice family home, in a nice quiet town with approx £380 a month to pay off a 25 year mortgage on a property worth £70K. It may need a little work – but since when has a little elbow grease been an issue? That non-fashionable location will still have customers for your trade and your home will have a tidy 100ft garden so as you can start a family like a regular person.As you were taught sensible life skills during your years being schooled at home you know damn well you need to aim to pay off that mortgage asap rather than buy a new iphone. You are still only 25 and most of your friends who went to Uni for their fancy media studies & sociology degrees, are still working in coffee shops. The ones who took “sensible” subjects are being worked like dogs 80 hours a week for a pittance in insecure roles for the big corporates and stuck in high cost Londistan & the like with massive debts pouring in from all sides.
By 30 cos you know how to live frugally and carefully, you can indulge yourself a little by paying for a part-time course that eventually will lead to a proper University degree in a subject that fascinates you. Home Schooling has left you with a life long love of learning for the sheer hell of it and you know that feeding your brain is good nutrition for the soul. By 40 that mortgage is long gone, and you are passing on some real skills to those offspring of yours. Hopefully you can fix up a fixer upper so your kids will be able to avoid the mortgage trap altogether.
The old path of go to college, get a “good” job, work yer way up as a company man living in a nice suburb of a big city is no longer working. I’m annoyed that our generation still insist on punching so many kids down this route, when frankly it’s no longer a model that’s fit for purpose, and hasn’t been for quite some time. It’s up to us to help them forge a new path, and one that’s based on empowerment and a work ethic, rather than this learned helplessness that frankly drives me crazy to witness all the time.
Lone: Brilliant. Absolutely spot on. I cannot agree with you more about homeschooling, about learning a real skill versus going in to debt to learn nothing useful at a university, and about making adult children pay the going market rent. I would also advise that mummy and daddy not go into the coddling business and insist that the adult child do their own laundry, help to prepare meals for the family, and do other chores when they are asked. About elbow grease and getting a property and improving it while young, I agree. Basically you just described how I was raised! My mum was from Maine and excuses were not allowed. Nor was bad behavior in public nor was laziness. At 15 I got a real summer job. It was my second summer working but unlike picking berries at a local farm it paid an hourly wage and I had to file a W2 income tax form for the first time. I had to buy my own bicycle (a 3-speed from a neighbor gal for $30) and the ride round-trip was 9 miles (and it was not all flat, either). I was shocked when my mum showed up one day at the ranch where I worked. There were thunderstorms that day so she came to give me a ride home. That was the only day that summer I got a ride from my mother. I went on to join the US military and studied philosophy after the age of 30.
Absolutely. Same here. When my career collapsed in 2009 and the push was on to “retrain” I said heck no and moved to the country. I have been happy ever since.
Go to Zillow…look at/search Texas listings. There were 51K listings in Texas. New Mexico shows 8K listings. Foreclosed, pre-foreclosed and listed as for sale. With all these houses on the market, how are house prices staying so high. Supply and demand ain’t working here. The only answer is that prices are being held artificially high.
This all freaking day… I’ve looked and looked and looked, and people are insane at what they think their house / land is worth. At some point the other shoe has to drop, and maybe the savers will get a slim chance to move up in the societal pecking order.
Neutrino, I agree. I was looking for an older cabin on land or land. The prices people are asking are unrealistic. It is one thing if your house is up to code and in an area where people can get a job or run a small business. Totally unrealistic in prices in many areas.
Philosopher, I was previously looking for a cabin or any type of house on land at the county auctions since I can’t get a mortgage. I’m just glad I have an arrangement to go be with family at a BOL when the time comes.
BH: I hear you. I have a mortgage and was lucky enough to lock in rate @ 3.5% and it is assumable if you are a qualified veteran. Just owning a home is not my issue at the present time. I was looking for a place to secure as a BOL. Expectations and prices are crazy. I don’t think I will be able to get a bank loan so I was looking to do an Owner Contract and pay a down payment (reasonable) and the balance over time. I am stacking silver since that is really cheap. I would love to see the price of silver go up and then just pay with silver for a chunk of land.
Just saw a missile silo for sale at the link on this page. I would love to buy that thing. Out of my budget but wow! Perfect place IMHO.
I bought my place very low right before prices jumped again. Even if I sold it where would I go?? It is nearly paid off. I lived in Texas and it still has houses cheap in small towns. No jobs but who will have a job anyway? I moved to New Mexico… poor economy, but bought 5 acres and a trailerstead. I love it. So here I live in my BOL and get better prepared every year. It is worth it to stay out of Dallas, Seattle, and other ant hills associated with my former career. How do I know? Because I am happy NOW. If things get worse… I will have a better chance. Yes… taxes are ever present… you either pay your own or pay the landlord’s. As for the younguns… I have gotten some of them to buy raw land (cheap) outside town and build their own like my dad and grandad did.
I think part of the issue is that so many are upside down on their loans. They don’t want to sell at a loss. On the buyer side of the equation, no way would you buy a house at the “market” value. Especially if your under the assumption that the market is way overpriced. You’re just buying someone else’s problem.
The banks have a huge inventory of houses. They created loans for these houses at market value. If the value of bank owned houses tanks, banks do not have adequate collateral for loans they got from the Fed. Now they’re upside down.
this all gets fixed when interest rates go back to “normal”(where it makes SENSE to rent your money to someone)…when that happens, all those homeOWNERS will be major underwater, as the house prices go back to “normal”…around HALF of current prices. that’s STILL too high, since now we make MUCH LESS than we did in year 2000(the last year for normal house prices). it’s MOST important to realize people only have their MEDIAN income, to buy that MEDIAN-PRICED house…so when interest rates go UP, house prices must come DOWN to get at the same payment per month…….mama math can be a real BITCH, at times….she can work FOR you, and she can work AGAINST you…i sold my house over a year ago, and within a couple more years, they will be MUCH cheaper….it worked for ME in 06, and it’s going to work again SOON!…meanwhile i got lots of cash in the bank, so i’m partyin’ like it’s 1937
The problem in America is people believe there are only two ways to advance the people’s mandates, Republican vs Democrat. The people here harp on progressives and liberals. The other side hates the party of the rich warmongers. The media keep this phony racket going, when in fact both parties merged long ago. It’s all fixed, that is except the people who still believe there is an actual difference between the fake phony sides. Divided and conquered pays heavy dividends. The people can’t go out of their own way to actually make an intelligent decision. We sit back and wait living life while nefarious agents progress daily to strip us of our livelihood.
I hear ya. Wears me out that anyone thinks even one candidate will save us. Not happening. Does not matter which side… it is one side.
Class status lost…except for the wealthy
Jobs lost…except for the wealthy
Housing unaffordable…except for the wealthy
High taxes….except for the wealthy
But what I REALLY want to know is HOW is it possible that Bitcoin hasn’t been outright outlawed by the United States as an illegal currency?
It ONLY leads me to believe that Bitcoin is the “safe haven” created BY the wealthy FOR the wealthy when cash ceases to exist, being totally unregulated FOR the wealthy.
Because Bitcoin is just a big Ponzi scheme designed to suck money from the fools that buy into it.
I have personally intervened in several attempts of both young singles and young married couples convincing them out of buying a house; there are probably realtors who despise me. I asked the questions they did not know to ask, and teach them them the most important thing one should do is save cash, be patient, and get an advocate who will help steer you in the right direction. Your cash is your time, effort, and sacrifice. Money is important, but your time, effort, and sacrifice is more valuable. Trust me, the banks, mortgage companies, realtors, lawyers, and everyone else involved wants your money more than you want that house. They truly don’t care about your customer satisfaction. I have bought a few homes; I saw the market drop coming then and sold them while property values were peaking. A realtor told me to my face I was a nut and that I did not know what I was talking about. Last time I saw her smug ass she quit the business. I have been lied to, deceived, dealt hidden fees, and they have tried to sell me something I did not want, etc.
Buying and financing a home on mortgage is actually financially irresponsible, NEVER be talked into doing that. I have noted most of the time, it’s the wives who pressure the husbands to buy a house and often for more than their budget allows-sorry, don’t mean to upset anyone. In the long-run tax breaks work out to be illusory, and there are a huge number of additional expenses related to home ownership that are Ioverlooked during the purchasing process. If you must have a house, buy property and build it yourself, if you can’t, buy a home that needs a little work, you’ll get far more value for your money.
For all you people who really don’t know any better; there is a really nasty national financial crisis on the horizon. If you buy now there are at least two real prospects you may likely be faced with, one is loss of employment, the other is as home sales crash your home’s value will also crash. That is, your mortgage will far exceed the value of your home, which will also render it impossible for you to sell. In the future you may have to deal with a loss of a job (or stuck in a job you don’t like), a mortgage you cannot pay, and a very unhappy wife. Thankfully, I never had to deal with these issues but I’ve seen it more than a few times (a few ex-girlfriends wanted to move in with me, I always said no).
Houses are like stocks, every investor know you should buy low, sell high. For some reason, sound financial advise gets tossed out the window by buyers when shopping for a house. Wait a few more years and save your money. There will be a glut of housing on the market, buy when the prices have bottomed out, you’ll be glad you did.
Billy, I understand where you’re coming from and for most people this is unfathomable but I think I can shine some light on this conundrum you’re talking about.
Most people (like the young couples in your examples) don’t understand the new rules of money. They purchase houses and live in them and believe this is an investment. Nothing could be further from the truth. A house (that you live in) is a liability that you have to pay for every month. It takes money out of your pocket. However, if you invest for cashflow… and say rent that house out then that house is considered an asset. It puts money in your pocket.
While I understand you’re trying to help people out by steering them away from purchasing a home. I think you’re doing them a dis-service by telling them its a bad idea. The problem is a lack of real financial education. People are afraid of debt, they’re told to work hard and and to “save, save, save.” That’s preposterous in today’s environment. The federal reserve prints trillions of dollars a year and the purchasing power of those dollars you’ve worked so hard to save are worth less and less. The federal reserve is literally stealing your money without having to touch it.
Instead, if you use debt (carefully) to purchase an investment (a house, business, or anything really) that produces cashflow. That is considered “good debt”. It puts money in your pocket every month after you service the payments due on the loans. There are tons of tax deductions and tax credits available to real estate investors as well.
-Lose your job? No big deal. It pays for itself
-Housing prices crash? No big deal. People still need places to rent.
-Inflation? Raise rents.
Real investors invest for cashflow. They dont work for money. They work for assets.
I understand that this isn’t for everybody. However, these concepts especially when taught to young couples can really have an impact. Having just one or two investment properties can bring in a few hundred extra dollars each month. Honestly, who couldn’t use that?
I am college educated working 50 hours a week at a factory. 10 hour shifts standing all day. It is absolute hell. We recently bought a home by the grace of the good Lord, and my husband’s hard work. He has a good job, but I have never found one. This is my 39th “job” and I want to quit everyday. This is the new American nightmare.
I’ve been watching reports of the tornado ravaged homes in the south and southwest, and can I say “what the hell are people still building houses out of sticks for in tornado alley”.
It’s really heartbreaking, but I’m sorry if I have so little sympathy for stupid people doing stupid things. A tornado or hurricane are nothing but big bad wolves huffing and puffing, trying to blow your house down. And most of these homes don’t even have a storm shelter. I’m utterly baffled.
Since when is stupid defined as and declared a natural disaster.
People aren’t building their own homes, builders are building them, then selling them on.
If you build your own home, use oversized dimensional lumber, it’s far better structurally than building code requires, if you can’t use stone or brick.
Simpson Strong ties. Always use them when framing and any structural work. Still wood is only so strong and the pressure difference just implodes houses while the wind scatters the pieces. I would never live in tornado alley. Earthquake areas are safer.
I lived in Texas… Most of those folks in mobile homes have no money. It is a gamble… the buy a piece of property cheap and live in a trailer hoping to build some day. I don’t blame them for trying. Making it all worse… jobs are unstable and so are relationships. Disasters all around. Not like my parents. Poor. Bought land. Live in camper. Built one room and sold camper. Added bedroom and bathroom. Added living room. Added 2nd story. That takes a level of stability that does not exist today.
I can completely agree with you here. It’s the level of stability that is lacking from many people’s lives. I make a very good income, but all of my jobs are nothing more than smoke in the wind. I hope and pray that the second shoe falls, because otherwise I won’t be able to buy a house and land. I’ve been close to buying a large parcel of land for cash, but choked because I’d have literally no savings and no house… I’d have some dirt… and I’d have to spend hundreds of thousands more to be able to live on it.
Rebecca;
I too lived in Texas. I was involved in the building industry there. Quality of construction, at least in the incorporated areas is on a level with or better than most of the US.They refer to trailer houses there as “tornado bait”. 200-400 mph cyclonic winds bow to nothing. Think a brick house will save your stuff? It’s called brick veneer. A brick ledge is added to the grade beam and the bricks are stacked up from there and attached with brick ties at various points. In the above mentioned winds those bricks become individual projectiles.
My opinion only but I will continue to live in our wonderful, comfortable, enjoyable home and continue to pay the taxes. You spend the largest share of your time in your home. Should it not be nice? I don’t want to live in a shipping container with a hole cut in the floor for my precious metal.
I have bought and sold homes over time. There are bargains in every market. Put your money into the things you spend your time in. If I spent a huge amount of time in my car I would probably have a nicer car.
You have to be able to do at least some of your own work in improving your property. If taxes are too high in your area–move.
I always marvel at the number of people on this site who seem to feel that it is better to not have stuff than to have stuff. By the way Rebecca, this comment is not directed at you, I simply hit reply after your comment.
Don’t be afraid to have stuff folks. I hope I don’t sound smug because I am not. By the way, my explanation of brick veneer is that of a layman so please forgive.
I no longer live in Texas but the mountains of New Mexico in a trailerstead. I have original art in here! I plan to build a small house embedded into the mountain. I will love my little home, designed it myself. I spend a lot of time outside, and am working on the greenhouse too. I know houses do not stand up to tornadoes! The newer the flimsier. I just remember the folks in trailers in tornado alley.
What do you think about “icf construction block”.
I watched a video of a house made of “icf construction block” that took a direct hit from a tornado. It looks like the house explodes. It didn’t. It was the siding being ripped off. The roof also was lifted off. Most of the houses contents survived. The roof was replaced quickly, and they moved back in in a week. They added hurricane tied owns to the new roof.
For others not familiar “icf construction block” it is molded foam blocks that can be hand stacked. It contains internal metal guides that hold and organize rebar reinforcement, and electrical conduit and boxes. When your done have a concrete truck pumper come and fill the block. When it’s cured put on a roof and windows.
As long as the footers are square and level, it is pretty much idiot proof.
You can google “icf construction block” to find info and DIY videos.
Anon, I will check it out, thank you!
Rebecca,
There’s been a lot of research in Florida regarding trailer homes. They have come up with standard “steel tie down system” that let them survive storms. These are now required for permanent trailer homes.
Your web site says your expectation is, any trailers on your property are temporary.
When my parents built their house the only rooms that needed to be finished were one full function bathroom and the kitchen. The electric plumbing needed to be finished. They moved in and finished the house while living in it. Building codes are far more stringent now and the house would need to be more complete.
I have steel tie down system on my old single wide. I get winds up to 70 mph so far so good. A neighbor within sight of me lost his old single wide last summer. The frame did not move, it peeled the roof off like a sardine can. Mine is built with 2×2, and that is not good. Since I spent the whole summer dry stacking 8x8x16 concrete blocks on the concrete footer, this winter has seemed more wind Sr able and a lot warmer. Double wides are made with 2×4 and 2×6, much sturdier. I looked at them and they are homes. They are also quite expensive. Used less so. It is very cold and I inherited a dugout hill for earth berming. My land is almost paid off. I have utilities. After mortgage (low), heat is my biggest expense… I grow food. I will make a small earth bermed house facing south for passive solar. I want a rocket stove in the kitchen, saw a great (and attractive) set up online. Being bermed, 20 feet above the road, it is also “gray”. Once in, I hope to sell the trailerstead. I like this smaller space to keep warm/cool for me. I have a couple outbuildings also and my current back patio is 1/3 the way to greenhouse. Crazy I may be but I am pleased. If shtf next month… trailerstead it is. Oh well. I am working on 4th raised bed plus food forest on my 5 acres of mountain. If it weren’t for the worries about what is going on, I’d think I died and went to heaven already. Every crash has flipped my city life to full time in a dream. I hope I am not a ghost!
BTW… thank you for visiting my Web site! Suggestions are sure welcome. My dad built our home and we lived in the first room with an outhouse! Eventually a 2 story house. Totally illegal these days. I have Santa Fe County code to meet and they are strict. I can do a lot of the work myself. I plan to pay as I go. The concrete blocks I dry stacked this summer will shift to home/greenhouse/raised beds. I am having too much fun. This summer will get a bigger garden. I need to pdf my floor plan. All very modest.
I grew up in a passive solar house may Dad designed and built. When I get a minute I’ll write about it, and get that to you.
you mean you’ll get it to ALL of us, right?
Plan Twice Prep Once, thank you. I appreciate advice on this project.
Been wondering the same here in the UK about those who have bought on flood plains. I’m talking brand new houses built on natural flood planes that are known to have flooded in the last decade. These are not “cheap” properties. Who takes out a quarter to a half a million pounds worth of debt for something like that?
My heart truly goes out to those who had no way of knowing disaster would befall them, but the stupid I find it hard to get excited about.
Why people behave the way they do at times is a real mystery to me?
i had a neighbor once that got his brother-in-law to buy the piece of property 2 lots over from him. they built a house on it…a few months went by…and the very first rain we got, i saw the front door open, so the water would go through to the back door so it wouldn’t push the damn house off the foundation…how the hell does FAMILY not see what’s going to be inevitable…yeesh!…then the city was doing some kind of drainage thing around each side of the house, so it wouldn’t happen again….they allowed them to build it there, afterall.
I don’t particularly agree with this article. While jobs and home ownership may be at an all time low, and I believe they are, there are plenty of opportunities for those that know where to look. I think the real tragedy is this hand-out mentality many people have nowadays. Most people think “why work when I can make just as much being unemployed.” People dont realize that’s the trap they want you in. Then they attach strings for that money and once your sucked in your stuck voting for them and doing whatever else they tell you to do. The problem is a lack of REAL financial education in schools today.
My daughter and husband would love to buy a house. I’ve been advising against it, because I’m expecting an economic crash, during which they can buy a house for a song.
I imagine there are lots of people who feel as I do.
We just had a crash in home prices in 2008. If they couldn’t buy a home then or just later, they couldn’t buy a home. Homes don’t look to be crashing in value in 2016 or anytime soon.
The question is, are they going to crash in price to a point below where they are today, or are they going to go up in price and then crash to a point equal to or higher than they are today?
No one knows the answers.
The only sure thing is that rents are going to increase.
read my post above again…..since 2000, we make LESS money, but houses are DOUBLE what they were previously(before 2000)….they will fall in HALF when interest rates go back to normal…..it’s MATH….and she’s a BITCH!
Japan… a home takes more than one generation to purchase. At least they can say it is small and there are many people. American homes are supporting a massive industry. So many people make a living out of homes jacks the prices to infinity.
I bought a house in 2014 after losing one after the 2008 crash. Why? Because interest rates were low and rents were increasing. I was renting a townhouse owned by an Indian and each year the costs were going up. When I moved out my rent was $1600 a month plus utilities (phone, Internet, gas, electric). Once my credit was repaired I was able to purchase a home again with a VA loan and, after refinancing last month, my fixed interest rate is 3.5% and monthly payment is $1100. If you qualify, depending on the state, check with your country assessor’s office, various states have various rules that allow for a veteran to receive a discounted tax rate. Check on line, and make a few phonecalls.
Anyhow, the point being is everyone needs a place to live. Know your budget and don’t overbuy. Young people willing to put in sweat equity can do very well.
“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency first by inflation then by deflation the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered… I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies… The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs.”
― Thomas Jefferson
YRBM-16:
“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our country than standing armies”.
I wonder how long the sheeple will continue to believe the predicament we find our country in is anything BUT the nefarious international banksters?
Or perhaps the MSM, etc. can continue to make us believe that it is muzzies, or Nazis, or liberals that are causing all this pain?
Or perhaps some will believe old Jefferson didn’t know what he was talking about?
Those banksters have America financing their wars upon this planet and are using American kids as their fodder.
Thomas Jefferson was telling the truth and we are now reaping the whirlwind caused by those “banking institutions”.
I am amazed how people blame those that could not possibly be at fault. And forget tptb and banksters and corporate-owned media that spew the party line. There must be some psychological glitch in human beings.
With property taxes, covenants and homeowner association “regimes”, no one actually owns any real estate anyway. They have to sign their lives away to never be able to pay for it, however. Why play the rich man’s money game? He’s the only one who’s rigged to win it.
So paying rent isn’t playing the game, either?
If you buy a home, you’ve got an asset. If you rent, you have nothing. No one can evict you from your home unless you have personally failed to pay your taxes or mortgage. You can be evicted from your rental at any time for any reason.
Funny how millions of people have managed to pay for their own homes, sell them and make a profit, with all those taxes and HOAs out there you say makes it impossible to own one.
I used to work with guy in the 1980s that said homes cost too much money, he was too smart to buy one, they’ll crash one day. He’s retired now, and still doesn’t own a home. He would of never been able to save enough money fast enough to meet the increases in costs. If he’d bought one back then, he’d have it paid off by now, or be looking at a payment of less than $600 a month. Instead, he’s paying rent, over $1000 a month for a crummy apartment with noisy neighbors.
I agree Smokey. Everyone needs a place to live. I would rather be in control of my fate and owe on a mortgage than have to deal with neighbor’s and landlords and increasing rent. Rent prices continue to climb. I remember when the interest rate was 18% in the 1980s. Today, you can buy a home and get a 30-year mortgage @ 3.5% or even less if you go with a 15-year mortgage. You get a place to live and a fixed cost of living over the long term.
There is a solution for people who are willing to be patient and live below their means for a few years.
Step 1: Buy the cheapest mobile home you can find and put it in the cheapest park you can find.
Step 2: Pay off the mobile home as fast as you can.
Step 3: Find a piece of empty property that you would like to call home.
Step 4: Move the mobile home to the back or one side of the property, leaving room for a house to be built later.
Step 5: Pay off the property as fast as you can.
Step 6: Build the smallest house you can bear to live in, designed so that it can be added to later.
Step 7: Sell the mobile home for close to what you originally paid.
Step 8: Pay off your house as fast as you can.
Step 9: As you save money, add on to your house. Try not to make it too fancy on the outside so your property taxes won’t be as much. The property tax on one house I own is less than $300 and maybe $500 on the other one.
Step 10: Enjoy your new, debt-free home.
The above plan will probably take about 10 years, so anyone interested needs to start as soon as possible.
I did a variation of the above plan. I bought the trailer for $3,000 and sold it for $2,000 three years later. I was able to skip Steps 3 through 8, but I was fully prepared to follow through with the entire plan. I started the plan before I was 30. And I was single with a very low income, so it can be done.
There is a blog where you can learn about being very frugal. It is: ht tp://www.frugalwoods.com
Hey Dude!
I did a variation on your plan.
I started in Washington state.
I own my acreage in rural Hawaii.
Due to my age my property tax just
dropped close to 50% eg. to $650 per
year.
Your most important point is to live
frugally, save and get completely out
of debt. Debt will kill you. My newest car
is 13 years old, my oldest is 29.
I fix and maintain all my machines and
vehicles(I have tools). My main house
is 18 years old and my newest house is
still under construction. all with no
debt.
Prep on!
You got me beat. My newest is 13, and my oldest is 23.
But my house is 80+.
Love those old houses!! So much character. 🙂
Used to be here you could not put siding on one wall of the home you built and the assessor would have to deem it ‘not completed’, and taxes would remain low.
So there were more than a few houses out there with a brick façade up to waist level, then three layers of tarpaper up to the eave.
They tried to stop giving out Occupancy Permits to scotch that, but some folks still get away with it.
Smokey, I have seen that trick used often up in Maine. I always wondered why they left the siding off of the house.
thanks so much for the plan!
we don’t have the same traditions of mobile homes you guys do in the UK, and land costs are crazy but my plan was similar to yours.
Some people are naturally gifted at business and finance, I’m not and don’t have the security of a partner so I just aimed to get out of hock to the bank as fast as I could. I cheated a little by relocating from an expensive region to a cheap one, shedding my mortgage as I did so. Our current home meets our needs, nothing fancy & probably not swish enough for the McMansion brigade but not owing a penny on it is a good feeling. It’s easier to practice extreme frugality when young, than when your joints start creaking and it lays down good habits for life.
My next step will be to play rinse and repeat on a rental property, to use as a pension fund. Again I’ll go for modest with a big deposit, and aim to avoid the trap of compound interest by paying down as fast as I possibly can. Compound interest enslaves people. Usury is forbidden in the Bible. Sadly it is a necessary component for many of us in today’s world but I still aim to keep my exposure to it as minimal as possible. No credit cards, catalogues, hire purchase, car payments etc, etc. All I ever had credit on was the roof over my head and I got shot as soon as I physically could.
I am pretty much done with step 5 and just finished designing for step 6. This is the best way to buy. I admit I bought my land with utilities and junk mobile already on it listed as “no economic value” but it works. I am making it a bit more attractive and should be able to sell it at step 7. Because the prior owner quit at step 5, they left some oddities and outbuildings that I designed in to my plan that will save money. I owe very little now and will not get a loan for the 400 sf house. Then add greenhouse and garage. Probably will not add more, no husband or children left at home. I am on my way! You laid it out very plainly, an easy plan to follow. Knowing the plan allows for luck like I had.
This is a smart plan.
Sooner or later the banks will have to dump their inventory and the prices will go down. The only thing to bring them back will be a good growing economy. Nobody will hang onto a house at a high price for long if they aren’t willing to keep paying for it.
This article reaks of socialism and the state owning everything tptb are doing this through the demoncratic process that is why I hate the process. Capitalism would be better if the people that have all the $ would pay fair wages for labor. But of course it will never happen. All I can say is get your kicks before the whole shit house goes up in flames. Hope is for suckers who wanna believe in a better life. The dream is over let it die and be real. Try not paying your property taxes and see how fast a lien is put on your property. You don’t own shit it’s just a piece of paper.
Many American companies, in the heydays, would build factories in the middle of nowhere – partially for resources – but also because land and houses for its workers would be less expensive (meaning they did not have to pay higher salaries to let the workers buy more expensive homes).
The problem with everything being unaffordable is reliance on credit. When all dumb folks do is look at how much the monthly payment is, the price goes up because suddenly lots of people who really cannot afford to buy, are now in the market paying with other people’s money that they will be paying back for years. If you cannot pay cash, you cannot afford it. Its that simple. If you don’t like the truth then figure out how to cut your expenses. When we bought our house it took 5 years living on next to nothing, saving every cent we could, working extra and even picking up cans along the roads when we were not busy doing anything else. We have no mortgage, we have no payments, and instead of being a debt slave to a bank for the next 15 or 30 years while paying three times what the property is worth in interest, fees and other scams we are free forever.
If you want a new car you are equally stupid to get yourself in debt. Cars loose value, nobody important cares what you drive and you are impressing nobody. My formula is figure out how many more miles you can put on a car before it hits 200K miles, multiply that by 10 cents a mile. That’s the most it is worth. Buy the car with the lowest cost per mile you can find (less than 10 cents/mile)and then maintain that car and you will save a fortune. Avoid all debt, save every cent you can, and be cheap.. its an art-form. Never pay retail prices for anything, if you look around you can always find a better deal.
The starter home today that the youth want is where we ended up at our third home. In 1985 I made $37,000 / yr (great money) but the mortgage interest rate was 11% so mortgage and taxes was about $800 month on a 15 year mortgage. The home was $63,000. Youth today can get a home in the same area for $160,000 and have a 3% interest rate. Their 30 yr mortgage and taxes are about the same. The home was a 1200 sq/ft rancher.
Kids want 3000 sq/ft and need all the bells and whistles today.
Things have toughened up but there is blame in what the youth believe is a necessity.
Kevin2: Well said. The expectations of many young people are totally unrealistic but right now financing is affordable as long as you don’t buy the best house in town! I bought a house that isn’t that old and where they are finishing up building out the neighborhood. Those houses are being sold now. Houses are still affordable where I live, even with a VA or FHA loan. That is the way to go for young folks, IMHO. If they have skills and can fix a house up with sweat equity, that is even better. People have totally been conned by TV shows into thinking their first house should be a mansion. Sure, if you are wealthy enough to afford that house.
Anyhow, everyone needs a place to live. I would rather pay a mortgage and have those payments pay down the principal than to throw money away to a landlord. I cannot stand landlords.
Not wanting to be argumentative, but I read more than one poster claim property taxes are fine with them and to paraphrase…if you don’t want roads and bridges and schools and police go live in a third world country.
Why the Hell can’t you pay for those things as a tax unlinked from the one thing that everyone needs…a home.everyone seems to be able to pay taxes for autos or boats but when 100% payed for they don’t keep taxing them or they come and steal them back…once it’s mine and I have the title free and clear it’s mine forever. To do with whatever I want.
Property taxes are nothing more than a way to keep the entire population enslaved. You can never really own your land, pass it on to your children and grand children.Whenever they want they can tax you out of your house.
Back in the mid 1800s there were no property taxes, which allowed farmers to take risks buying more land and not be afraid that they would lose their homestead if crops failed. It allowed the gold rush to happen…49ers knew they had a place waiting for them when they returned. Children always knew they would have the family homestead to fall back on if there new business or pursuit failed.
Now each year your property taxes increase, want to improve your home, maybe add another room for a new family member…raise taxes,pass it on to children, completly reassessed and taxes double or triple…on and on it goes and we all just go along with it.
How we ever allowed police,fire,school,road funding etc etc be linked with your home is beyond me but we all find it completely normal that instead of taxing income or some other profit to pay these things, we allow them to be ably to steal your family home if you don’t pay up.
It’s the only thing I can think of that you can pay for 100% and yet still need to pay ever increasing protection money to keep it. Record companies tried doing that with the album’s I owned said they were not mine to record a copy of if I wanted…movies the same…not to resell to others mind you,but just for my own use…we all know how much we followed those laws.
Why we allow them to keep taxing our property forever in perpetuity is beyond me.
They payed and funded these things just fine in this country way before they thought up property taxes. Property tax is just a way to never allow we the people to own our own home and steal it from our heirs.
I understand a lot of points being made here. They are salient and well-thought out. However, just remember all things are relative. Whether you buy at the peak or the bottom of the market, none of this matters unless you intend on selling the home within a short period of time or don’t intend on living there for an extended period of time.
Sure, we can all agree that it is better to buy low and sell high. But when you sell high you will buy high too unless you are willing to sit out the market and wait for prices to bottom out again. If you sell low you will buy low as well. I think the most important thing for anyone to consider is:
1. Do you like being a renter? Some people, like me, do not like being at the mercy of a landlord.
2. Are you willing to shoulder the upkeep of a home and/or land? This can be expensive and some people like the fact that if they rent, it is someone else’s problem to fix that leaky roof or broken dishwasher.
I have 13 acres and I can truly say that I don’t own the land, it owns me. It is a lot of work to keep up that much land. But I wouldn’t trade living out in the country for anything. It is a peace and serenity I can’t find even in the suburban areas.
MiVida;
The gov’t. gigs you on that plan too. If you intend to do your sale into another property of like kind you can use a 1031 exchange of real estate and it defers taxes. Problem is that there is a shorter and shorter time period on declaring your new property. If things work out timing wise the 1031 can be a good tool. If you are waiting for a market bottom you would need a crystal ball.
And the delay and decline of household formation will further lower birthrates and single-parent families. Our civilization is in a death spiral.