By many metrics, the US economy is humming along. The jobs market is robust; consumers are spending again; and inflation has eased to a three-year low.
I managed to get a house for a reasonable price and interest rate. Neither of those are the case anymore. So unless you can save up $100,000 for the 20% down payment on a $500,000 house, you’ve got to rent. And then you can’t save because rent is so high, so you’re stuck renting forever.
A 500k house is hardly even possible anymore here. I worked for a guy who build quite the bice house in a pretty damn expensive neighborhood. He told me he’s able to afford it because the neighbouring piece of land is also his and he’s gonna sell that. He pointed at a piece of land about the size of a soccer field. I said that’s nice, that’s a good chunk of the house i assume. Ge told me that the land is worth over 1 million dollars. No house nothing, just a piece of flat grass.
Houses in my neighborhood are still going for around $350,000 for a 45 year old 1500 sq foot, 3 bed, 1.5 bath. I was trying to adjust for an average but I forgot that $350,000 will buy you a dumpster with HOA fees in a lot of places.
I work in an adjacent industry to construction and I can tell you that even the $300k houses are so cheaply made that you would refuse to live in one of you saw them being built.
I’ve seen stucco being sprayed on exterior “walls” made of Styrofoam (polystyrene), and broken studs toenailed together before the drywall gets hung. That’s not even mentioning the number of times I’ve seen human shit on the floor of the garage.
The number of times these building companies have been sued for breaking building laws would make your head spin. A company in Florida got sued by an entire subdivision because they poured the foundation on the water table and the first rainstorm flooded every house.
It’s criminal how much these companies fleece from the American public.
These were built in 1979-81, so hopefully they’re not as slapped together as new houses. But I’ve seen houses built since 2000 where every window is cracked because the wind bent the frames so much.
The next house I live in will be built with my strict supervision.
I managed to get a house for a reasonable price and interest rate. Neither of those are the case anymore. So unless you can save up $100,000 for the 20% down payment on a $500,000 house, you’ve got to rent. And then you can’t save because rent is so high, so you’re stuck renting forever.
A 500k house is hardly even possible anymore here. I worked for a guy who build quite the bice house in a pretty damn expensive neighborhood. He told me he’s able to afford it because the neighbouring piece of land is also his and he’s gonna sell that. He pointed at a piece of land about the size of a soccer field. I said that’s nice, that’s a good chunk of the house i assume. Ge told me that the land is worth over 1 million dollars. No house nothing, just a piece of flat grass.
Houses in my neighborhood are still going for around $350,000 for a 45 year old 1500 sq foot, 3 bed, 1.5 bath. I was trying to adjust for an average but I forgot that $350,000 will buy you a dumpster with HOA fees in a lot of places.
I work in an adjacent industry to construction and I can tell you that even the $300k houses are so cheaply made that you would refuse to live in one of you saw them being built.
I’ve seen stucco being sprayed on exterior “walls” made of Styrofoam (polystyrene), and broken studs toenailed together before the drywall gets hung. That’s not even mentioning the number of times I’ve seen human shit on the floor of the garage.
The number of times these building companies have been sued for breaking building laws would make your head spin. A company in Florida got sued by an entire subdivision because they poured the foundation on the water table and the first rainstorm flooded every house.
It’s criminal how much these companies fleece from the American public.
These were built in 1979-81, so hopefully they’re not as slapped together as new houses. But I’ve seen houses built since 2000 where every window is cracked because the wind bent the frames so much.
The next house I live in will be built with my strict supervision.