Perhaps we'll get some exciting new building styles out of this?
Posted on 05/30/2011 9:29:40 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The U.S. housing market is going through an adjustment of historic proportions. Before 2006, when the housing slump commenced, American home builders regularly built as many as 2 million new houses annually, rarely less than a million. This amount was needed to keep up with new household formation, immigration, homeowners moving up, and replacement due to obsolescence. Since then the number of new houses built has dropped drastically—the seasonally adjusted annual figure announced by the federal government in February 2011 was about 400,000! What's going on?
The recession, obviously. High unemployment and unease about the economy have made potential first-time homebuyers leery of entering the market, and many have decided to wait on the side lines. Although house prices have fallen, few are convinced that they have bottomed, and no one wants to buy a house and see its price decline. The large number of foreclosed (or about to be foreclosed) houses on the market, which account for no less than four out of 10 sales of existing homes, likewise dampens demand for new houses. And those willing to take the plunge discover that, despite low interest rates, lenders who were burned by the subprime mess now require large down payments. The other chief cause for weak demand is a slowdown in household formation—the U.S. Census reports that the rate of household formation is currently lower than at any time since 1947, as people put off getting married and starting a family. According to my colleague, real estate economist Peter Linneman, the marginal household size, which has historically hovered around two or three, shot up to more than six in 2009 and 2010, the result of doubling-up and moving in with relatives.
Common wisdom is that eventually the housing market will stabilize.....
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
I like a big house on a big lot. I like more room than I “need”. I like fast cars and fast boats. I like good cigars and good wine. I don’t care if other people don’t like what I like.
Anyone would recognize me as an American.
_______________________________________________________________________
Am American for sure.
In Great Britain, the social planner have determined that new standard home size for a family in their Socialist Utopia is going to be 800 sq ft
Central Planning is a wonderful thing .
Someone will retort, “Well, not everyone can do this.” Okay, play Captain Obvious if you want to. I know that more families can do this than ever thought about it. Many have never thought about it because (1) they easily succumb to social or family pressure; (2) they want to keep up with the Joneses or they want an immediate image of success; and/or (3) they have no pioneering spirit.
1. Purchase a lot, preferably where zoning is minimal or non-existant.
2. Purchase a small, used, mobile home or motor home.
3. Plan a house. Learn to draw out what you need or want in a house.
Interestingly, there is a place where you can get FREE building plans: The U.S. Department of the Interior, Forestry service. The Forestry service archives and makes available finished plans for many types of buildings they use in national parks. Perhaps State Park people have the same. We have used U.S. Forestry Service plans. With only minor revisions, these plans are often almost instantly permit-able by county building departments.
You can choose plans that allow you to get into an adequate house and get your residency permit relatively quickly, and then you can take time to do your fit and finish, and later, expansions.
From your own income, plan how you will get a house dried- in and finished to the place where you can get the county residence permit INCRAMENTALLY. In increments, I mean, setting aside so much money from your income each week or each month to complete a particular phase of the project.
Example: My wife and I, in 1983 and 1984, acquired building plans from the U.S. Department of Forestry, and planned how we could build the building, which we would fashion in to a house in $600 increments. Every time we had $600 dollars, we completed another phase.
During that time we had a 28 ft. park-model trailer on a 2.5 acre lot. We had already had a well drilled, and I built a septic system myself for about 1/3 the cost that any company could install one for me.
The building plans, with the U.S. Department of Forestry engineering specs and signatures visible, got easy approval by the county with only minor revisions and stipulations.
My site work cost $600.
My underground rough plumbing (stub plumbing) cost $600.
My foundation cost $600. My frame package cost $600.
My roofing cost $600.
My wiring cost me $600.
My insulation cost $600.
My doors and windows cost $600.
My drywall cost $600.00. My flooring cost $600.
My initial kitchen necessities cost $600.
My initial bathroom necessities cost $600.
My initial lighting and elctrical finish cost $600.
My water, electric, and septic hook-up materials cost $600.
So, by that time, we had a small house for which we could get get the county's residence permit for under $8,000.
We continued to improve, fit & finish in $600 increments.
As time went by we added and expanded, and we had a nice home for which we never borrowed one dime from a bank.
Yes, we had already purchased the lot, and it was paid for. We bought it on contract from an individual and paid it off quickly before we began building.
Yes, we had already drilled a well, and that had cost us about as much as the lot.
Yes, we did almost all other labor ourselves. What I didn't know how to do, I learned from manuals I bought or borrowed. Certainly, none of this included the price of my tools, but since I did carpentry work for a living, I already had most tools.
I even dug the hole for a 1,500 gallon septic tank by hand with a shovel(!), and dug the drain field by hand, and did the gravel work in the drain field by hand. I ordered the tank itself ($100.00) which was simply dropped in hole. The county passed it on the first inspection.
We later sold that place and bought a home on two lots in another state with cash. So we have owned two homes debt-free; have never talked to a banker about a mortgage in 35 years of marriage.
Hot damn! My backyard is nearly 5000', just the way I like it.
Wish the small town I live next to was another 20 miles away :^)
Whew... I was wondering what my next house should be.. according to the author, I`ll want a 750-sf, 2-BR, 1-BA townhouse in a “mixed-income” complex in the city.
Of course, “ownership” would be illusory, since the city government would own the land beneath it. I`d need to jump through 15 hoops to get approval to plant a rose bush or lay out a different color mulch.
Internal renovations would be off the table, because the “authorities” would forbid any alterations. Requests for approval of even the slightest improvements would be summarily denied, as attempts to make your home better than that of your neighbors smacks of bougeois elitism... a punishable offense. All living quarters shall remain exactly the same.
And of course “authorities” can enter the structure at any time and cleanse the home of anything deemed to be a tool of corruption. After all, heavy-handed authoritarianism soothes the people and makes them feel secure.
Oh yes.. the life for me.
Speak for yourself, you urban fool.
Agreed...I don't mind a small, comfortable home...but I have no use for neighbors.
The key is to get the government out of the lending business. (and the borrowing business)... One week after my mortgage was placed with Bank of America, I received a notice that Fannie May had purchased it. No bank would lend at the low interest rates for long term fixed!
You “reckon”... LOL
Go tune your banjo, Delverance Boy.
Where do you live?. Just a general area.
All true. It is also true that since last Oct 1, we have been borrowing money from China to pay it (the proceeds from payroll tax are lower than the payouts). That won't work in the long run since China knows we won't pay them back. What will likely happen is the Fed will inflate and the Feds won't index your payment enough and you will fall behind.
Pretty good post except you mixed apples and oranges. The “gigantic, socialist freeway systems” that “killed the railroads” can be debated (I happen to like interstate freeways). But they have little to do with suburbs. Those were driven by 20th century industry and post-war housing needs. More modern suburbs such as around DC (I live well outside that mess) are driven by white collar jobs. There’s absolutely no reason to live or work in the city anymore unless you are social worker, forensic pathologist, coroner, or similar occupation.
Your left wing nutter rant says it all.
My crystal ball says that tax payer dollars will continue to be used to buy up foreclosed homes and tear them down, once they go feral and become a blight on the neighborhoods.
Another bail out, if you will.
The banks will sell these houses at inflated prices to either the feds or local gub’mints, they will be tore down, and then tax dollars will be used to build energy efficient homes (read boondoggle) to be given to section 8 and low income people in these established neighborhoods, thus driving property values down even further.
But hey, the banks will get their money, and we’ll be going “eco friendly!” and helping the poor!
Just my crazy prediction.
If you look at the tax rate history you'll see that 40 years ago the total tax for a self-employed person was just 7.5%. It's only starting in 1988 when the total tax for a self-employed person reached 15%.
We have plenty of houses to go around. We have too many houses to go around. That’s why the price of housing has fallen catastrophically (for many) and is continuing to fall.
I have often made the statement that I wish the poor could have moved into the new housing developments and left the wonderful older homes in the old parts town to people that love them, instead of "white flight" and inner city decay.
Wonderful post, thank you. You saved me the time.
The Leftist McMorons think the market is going to turn around any day now!
I think I know why the SCOUS passes the emanate domain law,it’s good for business and control.
Perhaps we'll get some exciting new building styles out of this?
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