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"The Rent Is Too Damned High"

Tyler Durden's picture




 

“In 1960, about one in four renters paid more than 30% of income for housing. Today, one in two are cost burdened,” according to a new study (ironically) by Harvard University. As Bloomberg BusinessWeek's Peter Coy notes, the availability of apartments, especially cheaper ones, hasn’t nearly kept up with demand, and the problem has worsened since the 2007-09 recession. Remarkably, the number or people with severe cost burdens (paying over 50% of income to rent) is up by 2.5 million in just four years, to 11.3 million; and as usual, the pinch is hardest on the poor. The share of cost-burdened renters increased by a stunning 12 percentage points between 2000 and 2010, the largest jump in any decade dating back at least to 1960.

 

Via Bloomberg BusinessWeek,

If you can’t afford to own, you can rent. But what if you can’t afford to rent, either? Millions of Americans are in precisely that situation, according to a study released today by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. The availability of apartments, especially cheaper ones, hasn’t nearly kept up with demand, and the problem has worsened since the 2007-09 recession, the study says.

 

 

 

“In 1960, about one in four renters paid more than 30 percent of income for housing. Today, one in two are cost burdened,” according to the study, America’s Rental Housing.

 

“Cost-burdened” means you’re paying more than 30 percent of income for housing and “severely cost-burdened” means you’re paying more than half. “By 2011, 28 percent of renters paid more than half their incomes for housing, bringing the number with severe cost burdens up by 2.5 million in just four years, to 11.3 million,” according to the Harvard study, which was conducted with partial funding from the MacArthur Foundation.

 

 

 

The boom in housing prices made ownership unaffordable for many families, and the subsequent bust forced others into foreclosure. You would think that all of those foreclosed homes would make great rental properties, and they have. “Remarkably,” though, the study says, “soaring demand was more than enough to absorb the 2.7 million single-family homes that flooded into the rental market after 2007.”

 

The result of the spike in rental demand is a seller’s market: “From a record high of 10.6 percent in 2009, the vacancy rate turned down in 2010 and has continued to slide, averaging 8.4 percent in the first three quarters of 2013.”

 

 

 

As usual, the pinch is hardest on the poor, those with incomes under $15,000 a year who pay at least half their incomes on rent. “With little else in their already tight budgets to cut, these renters spend about $130 less on food—a reduction of nearly 40 percent relative to those without burdens.”

 

The problem would get worse if Congress, in its zeal to eliminate loopholes from the tax code, were to rid of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. That tax credit provides incentives for construction or preservation of affordable housing units—about 2.2 million since 1986.

 

Deterioration is another potential enemy of affordable housing. According to the center’s study, more than one in five mobile homes was removed from the housing stock from 2001 to 2011.

 

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Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:05 | 4230814 Al Huxley
Al Huxley's picture

more than one in five mobile homes was removed from the housing stock from 2001 to 2011.  Wow, that's a lot of tornados.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:12 | 4230833 Stackers
Stackers's picture

THE RENT IS TOO DAMN HIGH !

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:18 | 4230850 Enslavethechild...
EnslavethechildrenforBen's picture

If we the people had a government of the people for the people, no one would have to pay rent.

Instead we have to pay ransom to the terrorists pretending to be our government.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:25 | 4230869 zaphod
zaphod's picture

The data in the article is just wrong. 1/2 of people do not pay 50% of their income for housing if you include government subsidies in the picture. Government subsidies/breaks are a major source of funds for many.

Yes a lot of people are paying 50% from their day job, but Uncle Sam is picking up the tab for food, etc.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:30 | 4230887 Enslavethechild...
EnslavethechildrenforBen's picture

I hereby crown you as sir Zaphod the Troll.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:49 | 4230930 Antifaschistische
Antifaschistische's picture

I would have invested in a small apartment complex in my current city...but now, renters have rights!  Which, I completely do not get.   If I own a house, no one should be able to tell me who can sleep in one of my bedrooms.   But holy crap....if you own an apartment complex the government gets very involved in who you let in, AND who you kick out!   

So...I'm not investing money there.  Not because I don't want to deal with renters....because I don't want to deal with the government and with the army of parasitic lawyers who follow low lifes around to sue anything that breathes.  No thanks.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:57 | 4230973 silverserfer
silverserfer's picture

due a bit more due dilligence on fair housing laws and you will see its not as you describe. Its probably for the better as you sound like a slumlord in the making.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 21:08 | 4231227 seek
seek's picture

We have a special breed of scammer in my state, that preys on landlords that don't do tenant background checks. Via various legal manuvers, the scammers can pretty much guarantee 3 months rent-free in any place they successfully move into, so five months rent for the price of two (first, last, sec deposit, then 3 months free.)

The crazy thing is our state laws are very biased pro-landlord. You couldn't pay me to invest in housing rentals in this environment.

Tue, 12/10/2013 - 01:09 | 4231605 silverserfer
silverserfer's picture

learning how to screen is crucial to avoiding those type . They likely wouldnt pass a silmple credit check and crimminal backgrond check that  cost under $30. Proper deposit and income verifiaction is a must. Get a co-signer and run their credit and verify their income if theyre young.  aside from that is where you choose your market. I manage student housing on a major colege campus. Its been hot since 2004. No decline in income in 2008 either.

avoid govt loans and you dont have to rent to deadbeats. private+bank invesntment $ and you stay conventional and play by your rules(for the most part)

Tue, 12/10/2013 - 03:30 | 4231720 Rukeysers Ghost
Rukeysers Ghost's picture

Renting to college kids is way different than renting to the average poor slob on the street with a 9-5. You can put the school kids parents on the hook for missing rent payments and damage by getting them to cosign. In the real renting world, you have to deal with people using alias's that check clean, damaging the place and then disappearing before the sheriff shows up to throw them out 2 months after you finally get a judgement. All that leaves you in the hole for all those expenses.

And lets not forget the govt' getting involved to tack on fees, higher and higher property taxes and force unnecessary code improvements that price the unit past what that poor slob can pay without a govt' hand out. 

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:57 | 4230975 Enslavethechild...
EnslavethechildrenforBen's picture

Used to be in this country that buying and building homes was part of something they used to call an "economy" before the Bankers imprisoned us all.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 20:48 | 4231161 PT
PT's picture

Your land has been stolen from you.  Everything else is simply an attempt to hide this fact.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:56 | 4230976 Joe Sixpack
Joe Sixpack's picture

Recent observations in the universe have changed even mainstream cosmologists view of our universe and our place in it. This is for real, and things are changing very fast. Here are some quotes from just the movie trailer:

"There is a crisis in cosmology..."
Michio Kaku

"It's an exciting time in cosmology, because everything has changed..."
Lawrence Krauss

"Life is extremely rare, ..., we are in fact the only life in our entire universe and I actually think we are very significant..."
Max Tegmark

Ultimate questions about our place in the universe are addressed by the leading cosmologists in the world (e.g., Michio Kaku, Lawrence Krauss, Max Tegmark, George F. R. Ellis, and many more), and the answers they give will absolutely blow you away.

Here is the link:

http://www.facebook.com/theprinciplemovie

or

http://youtu.be/p8cBvMCucTg

Kate Mulgrew (former "Captain Janeway" on Star Trek Voyager, and a four-decade veteran of stage and screen) is our narrator.

Graphics were created by BUF Compagnie of Paris (winner of the Academy Award in 2012 for "Best Visual Effects" in the movie Life of Pi)

Music is by Richard Robson Remix (nominated for an award in 2006), with the singer-sensation, JES, singing our original theme song, "Sky Stand Still."

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 20:29 | 4231109 Tall Tom
Tall Tom's picture

It will turn out better...but not on Earth as it is destined for destruction. Physicists take that question very seriously.

 

Thanks for the OT post.

Tue, 12/10/2013 - 03:44 | 4231733 Andre
Andre's picture

"...not on Earth as it is destined for destruction."

Stinkin' Vogons and their hyperspace bypass.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 20:16 | 4231051 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

Don't worry, you can hire your own army of parasitic lawyers to fight their parasitic lawyers...  Oh, you want to make money?

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 20:47 | 4231159 johnconnor
johnconnor's picture

the goverment is also picking up the rent tab for these millions under section 8... the problem in america is not being poor, is being middle class, you get no breaks and pay to subsidies to the Wal street bitches and the free shit army

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 20:47 | 4231160 johnconnor
johnconnor's picture

the goverment is also picking up the rent tab for these millions under section 8... the problem in america is not being poor, is being middle class, you get no breaks and pay to subsidies to the Wal street bitches and the free shit army

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 21:43 | 4231272 wee-weed up
wee-weed up's picture

 

 

zaphod   said: 

The data in the article is just wrong. 1/2 of people do not pay 50% of their income for housing if you include government subsidies in the picture. Government subsidies/breaks are a major source of funds for many.

Yes a lot of people are paying 50% from their day job, but Uncle Sam is picking up the tab for food, etc.

---------------------

Yep, I agree 100% - the article really blew it! They left a very significant data factor - gov't subsidies - out of the equation!

Tue, 12/10/2013 - 01:12 | 4231611 silverserfer
silverserfer's picture

yes but the sec 42 & 8 housing you speak of make up less than 20 of renetal housing market. The free shit army resides there.

Conventioal housing if for those that carry their own weight. 

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 20:21 | 4231072 Nothing but the...
Nothing but the truth.'s picture

This is the ugly face of capitalism and all the greed that goes with it.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 21:58 | 4231332 A Nanny Moose
A Nanny Moose's picture

How so?

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:20 | 4230858 Gringo Viejo
Gringo Viejo's picture

"and the cock-a-roaches is eatin' my foodstamps."

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:31 | 4230892 Enslavethechild...
EnslavethechildrenforBen's picture

They're the ones printing the food stamps instead of putting money in to jobs.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 21:30 | 4231274 Tall Tom
Tall Tom's picture

It is not the responsibility of the Government to print Food Stamps, subsidize your rent, provide health care or to create jobs. That is your responsibility.

 

If Government were to stop rental subsidies then vacancies will soar. Rent prices would drop as a result to fill vacancies. (Some money is better than no money....especially when you are paying a mortgage as a landlord and you have expenses.)

 

If Government were to stop Health Care Assistance then Medical costs would drop as Doctors would have to compete for patients.

 

If Government were to stop subsidizing Food expenses then food prices will fall, or, a decrease in food production will happen. (Oh well...maybe we cannot support 320 Million Americans. Some will starve.)

 

If Government were to stop creating jobs then people will create jobs and hire others to work for them.

 

Yes there would be a lot of discomfort when the Government does this. (I do NOT expect it.)  However if they do not willingly do it then they will be forced to do it when the Government collapses fiscally. It will be more painful as it will be a shock when Government is forced. They can make it less painful by withdrawing a little bit over a longer time period.

 

Shock kills. Managed withdrawal is survivable but uncomfortable.

 

It is Society's choice.

 

But one way or another it will happen. Prepare accordingly.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:28 | 4230881 Harbanger
Harbanger's picture

You can still buy a house in Detroit for $2.99 while they last.  No rent to pay.  Only taxes, insurance and utilities.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:42 | 4230916 SafelyGraze
SafelyGraze's picture

plus security guards

and outdoor lights

 

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:58 | 4230985 Enslavethechild...
EnslavethechildrenforBen's picture

It's fun to play Monopoly when you get $200 for passing go, when the Bankers get $2,000,000,000,000 for passing go.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 21:57 | 4231328 Real Estate Banksta
Real Estate Banksta's picture

Free dogs too!

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 22:04 | 4231338 A Nanny Moose
A Nanny Moose's picture

Resourcesful individuals are building micro-homes. Who the fuck wants to own, paint, dust, vaccuum and generally maintain 2700sq-ft McTerminte Magnet? No man that I know does.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 23:58 | 4231544 Harbanger
Harbanger's picture

After you get the proper approvals and permits, here's how to build yourself a micro-home with a covered porch.

http://www.grit.com/departments/building-a-doghouse-step-by-step.aspx#ax...

Tue, 12/10/2013 - 00:18 | 4231563 Borrow Owl
Borrow Owl's picture

The crux of this particular biscuit is that the herd has been trained to believe that begging and bribery (approvals and permits) is the 'proper' way to do things.

Fuck the state.

 

 

Tue, 12/10/2013 - 00:54 | 4231595 A Nanny Moose
A Nanny Moose's picture

Yeah...government...once again....fucks it up for everybody.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 20:29 | 4231105 putaipan
putaipan's picture

calling henry george ....

Tue, 12/10/2013 - 02:48 | 4231693 EscapingProgress
EscapingProgress's picture

Yes, rent is too damn high! I wouldn't buy a house though. You'll loose your ass. Thanks for the QE, Bernank.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:15 | 4230837 The Juggernaut
The Juggernaut's picture

So the companies that are buying up all the homes to prop up housing are going to do what when they sell??  Bundle up the properties in a trust and go public??

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 20:04 | 4231005 Enslavethechild...
EnslavethechildrenforBen's picture

Since theyre getting anywheres between 50% and 100 % return on their investment per year, they are not ever going to sell them. The objective is to enslave us all for eternity. Good thing the Military and law enforcement are on their side.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 20:45 | 4231144 Harbanger
Harbanger's picture

"Good thing the Military and law enforcement are on their side."

The Egyptian military and people removed that puppet Morsi we tried to give them.   Obama has been charged with crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court, yet we still can't even find enough reason to impeach him.  There is no organized opposition here, Fucking bunch of wusses is what we've become.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:15 | 4230838 Rainman
Rainman's picture

so....BTFD in doublewides

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:18 | 4230848 CheapBastard
CheapBastard's picture

Rent Control is around the corner. My area has already been discussing it.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:33 | 4230895 Enslavethechild...
EnslavethechildrenforBen's picture

Hanging the Bankers by the neck is around the corner.

The entire world is already discussing it.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:38 | 4230912 Harbanger
Harbanger's picture

Gov housing projects for all but the rich are already in the works.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:46 | 4230926 Enslavethechild...
EnslavethechildrenforBen's picture

Is that a different study by Harvard on how they fucked everybody?

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:53 | 4230957 Harbanger
Harbanger's picture

It's part of the sustainable development program in the smart growth initiative (agenda 21).

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 21:31 | 4231273 Freddie
Freddie's picture

Most renters voted for this twice.  Nice job idiots.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:08 | 4230817 Occident Mortal
Occident Mortal's picture

I'll always remember the day I became a slum lord.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:07 | 4230818 drink or die
drink or die's picture

"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"

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:10 | 4230828 TwoCats
TwoCats's picture

That really is a great quote.  Too bad nobody named Thomas Jefferson ever said it.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:22 | 4230864 Enslavethechild...
EnslavethechildrenforBen's picture

Two cats or one troll?

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:55 | 4230963 sylviasays
sylviasays's picture

enslave the fucking Enslavethechild troll and put the damn troll on the bankrupt democrap entitlement plantation! 

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 21:47 | 4231301 Tall Tom
Tall Tom's picture

You are incorrect and correct. You are incorrect as  drink or die did NOT attribute the quote to Jefferson. (You did as you inferred it.)

 

You are correct as Thomas Jefferson never said it.

 

http://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/private-banks-quotation

 

But that is setting up a Strawman Argument, tearing down someone's post, by creating an argument that was not proposed.

 

That is a DISHONEST DEBATE TACTIC.

 

Down Arrow for that. I despise DISHONESTY.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 22:37 | 4231417 nmewn
nmewn's picture

Correct.

Jeffersons sentiment toward banks is well known (especially in regards to the public being liable for government transgressions & excess). I have his collected writings in my library (such as it is) as a book cannot be deformed on the intertubes to manipulate the minds of men.

As summed up here:

"And I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale."...meaning, swindeling & cheating future generations...our children. Millennials, GenX or whatever.

Kids are not taught this in school and their parents (for the most part) are ignorant of it.

"Bank-paper must be suppressed, and the circulating medium must be restored to the nation to whom it belongs."...speaks to sovereign currency, the nations currency, not private bank currency.

Kudos to you sir!

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 22:53 | 4231447 dick cheneys ghost
dick cheneys ghost's picture
Fri, 01/29/2010 - 08:32 | Dr Manhattan

''On May 23, 1933, Congressman, Louis T. McFadden, brought formal charges against
the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Bank system, The Comptroller of
the Currency and the Secretary of United States Treasury for numerous criminal
acts, including but not limited to, CONSPIRACY, FRAUD, UNLAWFUL CONVERSION, AND
TREASON.

Obviously, his charges have yet to be acted upon.

McFadden served as Chairman of the Banking and Currency Committee, so the man
knew what he was talking about here.

If you have any doubts that the Fed is really owned by private, FOREIGN bankers,
allow a man who lived through this travesty tell you what we’ve been telling
you…

“Mr. Chairman, we have in this Country one of the most corrupt institutions the
world has ever known. I refer to the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal
Reserve Banks, hereinafter called the Fed. The Fed has cheated the Government of
these United States and the people of the United States out of enough money to
pay the Nation’s debt. The depredations and iniquities of the Fed has cost
enough money to pay the National debt several times over.

This evil institution has impoverished and ruined the people of these United
States, has bankrupted itself, and has practically bankrupted our Government. It
has done this through the defects of the law under which it operates, through
the maladministration of that law by the Fed and through the corrupt practices
of the moneyed vultures who control it.

Some people think that the Federal Reserve Banks are United States Government
institutions. They are private monopolies which prey upon the people of these
United States for the benefit of themselves and their foreign customers; foreign
and domestic speculators and swindlers; and rich and predatory money lenders.

In that dark crew of financial pirates there are those who would cut a man’s
throat to get a dollar out of his pocket; there are those who send money into
states to buy votes to control our legislatures; there are those who maintain
International propaganda for the purpose of deceiving us into granting of new
concessions which will permit them to cover up their past misdeeds and set again
in motion their gigantic train of crime.

These twelve private credit monopolies were deceitfully and disloyally foisted
upon this Country by the bankers who came here from Europe and repaid us our
hospitality by undermining our American institutions. Those bankers took money
out of this Country to finance Japan in a war against Russia. They created a
reign of terror in Russia with our money in order to help that war along.

They instigated the separate peace between Germany and Russia, and thus drove a
wedge between the allies in World War I. They financed Trotsky’s passage from
New York to Russia so that he might assist in the destruction of the Russian
Empire.

They fomented and instigated the Russian Revolution, and placed a large fund of
American dollars at Trotsky’s disposal in one of their branch banks in Sweden so
that through him Russian homes might be thoroughly broken up and Russian
children flung far and wide from their natural protectors.

They have since begun [the] breaking up of American homes and the dispersal of
American children. Mr. Chairman, there should be no partisanship in matters
concerning banking and currency affairs in this Country, and I do not speak with
any.

In 1912 the National Monetary Association, under the chairmanship of the late
Senator Nelson W. Aldrich, made a report and presented a vicious bill called the
National Reserve Association bill. This bill is usually spoken of as the Aldrich
bill.

Senator Aldrich did not write the Aldrich bill. He was the tool, if not the
accomplice, of the European bankers who for nearly twenty years had been
scheming to set up a central bank in this Country and who in 1912 had spent and
were continuing to spend vast sums of money to accomplish their purpose.

We were opposed to the Aldrich plan for a central bank. The men who rule the
Democratic Party then promised the people that if they were returned to power
there would be no central bank established here while they held the reigns of
government.

Thirteen months later that promise was broken, and the Wilson administration,
under the tutelage of those sinister Wall Street figures who stood behind
Colonel House, established here in our free Country the worm-eaten monarchical
institution of the ‘King’s Bank’ to control us from the top downward, and from
the cradle to the grave.

The Federal Reserve Bank destroyed our old and characteristic way of doing
business. It discriminated against our One-Name commercial paper, the finest in
the world, and it set up the antiquated Two-Name paper, which is the present
curse of this Country and which wrecked every country which has ever given it
scope; it fastened down upon the Country the very tyranny from which the framers
of the Constitution sought to save us.”

Wow! You never read that in one of your ‘doctored up’ history books, did you?''

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/stuff-conspiracy-theories-are-made-emer...

Tue, 12/10/2013 - 02:01 | 4231643 indygo55
indygo55's picture

Too bad nobody named Thomas Jefferson ever said it.

Really? I bet you a dollar he did say that. 

http://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/private-banks-quotation

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:12 | 4230836 Stuck on Zero
Stuck on Zero's picture

In the eyes of the government we're all renters.

 

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:14 | 4230841 Occident Mortal
Occident Mortal's picture

In the eyes of the government we're livestock.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:20 | 4230860 Enslavethechild...
EnslavethechildrenforBen's picture

We the sheeple/slaves/zombies

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 21:48 | 4231307 Bananamerican
Bananamerican's picture

...deserve better leadersheep than we get from wall street...

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:59 | 4230988 silverserfer
silverserfer's picture

I think there is a vault at one of the rothchilds palaces that is actualy the deed to the USA.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 21:08 | 4231225 Clowns on Acid
Clowns on Acid's picture

In the eyes of the banks (the Fed) we are all renters...

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:19 | 4230853 Obama_4_Dictator
Obama_4_Dictator's picture

"Fuck your rent, nigga." - Obama

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:19 | 4230854 Son of Captain Nemo
Son of Captain Nemo's picture

Along with rent being too damned high, cost of food and utilities, this might be amusing to some and down right scary to others considering the state of our economy and the "priorities" by a Federal Government left unchecked that feel that unlimited spending and the debt that comes with it should not and will not stop.

http://www.hangthebankers.com/new-us-intelligence-seal-evil-octopus-strangling-the-world/

I'm particularly smitten with the two patches at the bottom of the attached -

Wisdom Imparts Strength / Strength Defends Freedom

or if you prefer the Masonic Illuminati crowd -

Supra Summus and Get your Kicks on 66 with Satan hurtling skyward!

After viewing NROs spirited patches I certainly feel good about America's future direction.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:18 | 4230855 grid-b-gone
grid-b-gone's picture

Solution: tiny houses

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTTwzwKLZak

More reasonable, livable solution - cottage movement

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpWLviXW6x8

Spend $40K to $80K, reap utility savings for a lifetime, and reject being a debt slave.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:21 | 4230861 lemonobrien
lemonobrien's picture

take 40k and buy 10 good acres.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:29 | 4230883 grid-b-gone
grid-b-gone's picture

Good acreage usually locks one into a commute. OK if close to retirement. 

This couple pretty much got it right. About $40K in Ohio by doing most work himself.

http://littlehouseonthehill.weebly.com/

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:50 | 4230937 Enslavethechild...
EnslavethechildrenforBen's picture

End the fed. Begin the treasury. End criminal interest rates. Begin zero interest loans. End circulating money at the top of the pyramid. Begin circulating money at the bottom of the pyramid where it's most needed. End putting the poor in prison. Begin putting the filthy rich criminals at the top in prison.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:59 | 4230983 sylviasays
sylviasays's picture

enslave the fucking Enslavethechild troll and put the damn troll on the bankrupt democrap entitlement plantation! 

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 20:04 | 4231001 silverserfer
silverserfer's picture

who let this fucktard out of the barn? 

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 20:10 | 4231038 chunga
chunga's picture

Wow. For 40K those people did a nice job.

Very nice.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 21:28 | 4231270 Rubbish
Rubbish's picture

That blog was awesome. They built a beautiful home.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 22:01 | 4231337 chunga
chunga's picture

Isn't it? I'm still checking out his barn and chicken coup.

Mrs. chunga and I have something similar going on a couple of plateaus to the west and south of CD. The road we live on was named after our closest neighbor (we can't see their house) and their family has been here since the civil war. Very nice folks, the wife actually invited us over for Thanksgiving, a very nice gesture that we took them up on. There is more ATV traffic on this road than cars but a mere 30 minutes away you'll find the ubiquitous Walmart, Lowes, and all that crap. 

Property tax = $290/year.

Death Pledge payment = $0.

Priceless!

I've got a nice mix of well seasoned oak and hickory burning in the fireplace and some cold beer. I promised the Mrs. I'd learn a few Christmas tunes for her on the guitar and have managed to blend Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Dixie-Land together and it actually sounds pretty good on the strat. LOL!

This kind of living isn't for everyone...but we love it. I turned my compost pile over this morning and it was steaming hot. It gave me a woodie for a few minutes.

Tue, 12/10/2013 - 00:00 | 4231550 grid-b-gone
grid-b-gone's picture

They wondered, "Will we get on each other's nerves?", but after paring down their "stuff", being able to easily cover energy needs, and knowing their retirement in a few years is more secure, they have peace of mind.

Sleeping in Grandma and Grandpa's loft will probably be one of the grand-kids' favorite memories. 

I just watched "I Am" on Netflix. The director of Ace Ventrua Pet Detective moved into his first, large CA mansion and remembered consciously thinking he was no happier than before, so he explored what humans consider valuable across cultures and over time. "Stuff" like large living spaces has little lasting effect on satisfaction or happiness.       

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:51 | 4230947 all-priced-in
all-priced-in's picture

When I was 2 months old my parents bought a 4 bedroom home in a great neighborhood - for $8,900.

28 years later I bought my first home for $43,000.

25 years after that my daughter bought her first home for $160,000.

Sure - let's ignore the value of the dollar - accept a large dick in our ass and move into a fucking shoe box without running water.

I am sure the "new American dream" should include having a home on wheels.

WTF sort of PC ass hole calls a house a "Katrina home"? But at least it had nice "winduz"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 22:06 | 4231343 Yenbot
Yenbot's picture

@grid-b-gone: right on !!

Make tiny houses legal, now! Building code prohibits them in many places in the States.

Homelessness is created by opressive gov't. Freedom is the Answer.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:20 | 4230857 lemonobrien
lemonobrien's picture

San Francisco is fucking crazy; that is all I have to say. They are building tons of new apratment buildings; mostly upper-high-end. They sell them mostly to retards, from overseas, or new google employees. When they complete all the construction, garuntee, the economy will nose dive and all these REIT investors will get fucked.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:25 | 4230871 Enslavethechild...
EnslavethechildrenforBen's picture

Sorry you are wrong. None of them are for sale. They are all for rent to the slaves and software engineer slaves. More expensive to rent than stay at Holiday Inn

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:56 | 4230966 Son of Captain Nemo
Son of Captain Nemo's picture

Seeing the same in a suburb of Washington D.C. Northern Virginia.  Building commerical and residential properties like crazy to augment the Metro line expansion out to IAD which is going through one of the more expensive trendy shopping and living communities. Metro has already increased the fare price almost 15% within the last 2 months to pay for it, and the service has been delayed repeatedly into schedule for normal operation.

The trouble is that this corridor has over 15 hotels already that are never even close to being full occupancy with commerical rents that are in the stratosphere with older office buildings that collectively boast more than 3 million square feet of unoccupied space and growing for several years now. While it's putting construction crews to work it's what is coming behind it to generate the growth after they are built that is the biggest question. 

Guess San Francisco and the Washington Metro area took a course in real estate development from the Chinese.  Should be interesting to track who ends up buying all of it when the "open for business" signs go up.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 20:58 | 4231194 lemonobrien
lemonobrien's picture

"putting construction crews to work"  that's all i see too.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:25 | 4230859 rustymason
rustymason's picture

Piss and moan, gasp and groan, ye lazy swine. Just print some money and pay for the darned house. That's what the super rich have been doing. They'll own everything soon because they work harder at printing money than you do. Get back to work.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:40 | 4230910 OpenThePodBayDoorHAL
OpenThePodBayDoorHAL's picture

The number of billionaires in the world has TRIPLED in the LAST FIVE YEARS. Tells you absolutley EVERYTHING you need to know about this system.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 20:18 | 4231052 Son of Captain Nemo
Son of Captain Nemo's picture

Be happy if you're not a part of it. Because what you had to go through to get there tells the real story.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:25 | 4230870 SmittyinLA
SmittyinLA's picture

Its a map of criminal invasion

 

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:26 | 4230879 Enslavethechild...
EnslavethechildrenforBen's picture

To protect and serve - the criminal terrorist government....

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:30 | 4230888 hound dog vigilante
hound dog vigilante's picture

Haven't hedgies & PE firms been the biggest buyers/owners of rentals for the past 5 years or so?

Gee, I'm sure historically high rents (targeting the low-end, of course) & historically high hedgie/PE rental ownership is just a coincidence and not a correlation, right?

How does this post/article fail to connect these dots?

 

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:33 | 4230897 Colonel Klink
Colonel Klink's picture

Long cropsharing!

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:36 | 4230900 Enslavethechild...
EnslavethechildrenforBen's picture

Long guillotines

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 20:39 | 4231148 Colonel Klink
Colonel Klink's picture

OK I downvoted myself, I like yours better!

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:42 | 4230914 Theta_Burn
Theta_Burn's picture

And I can't rent at break-even in SC Myrtle bch...

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:47 | 4230929 I need Another Beer
I need Another Beer's picture

After my 2nd deevoorce, I lived in a 1976 Holiday Rambler where I met my 3rd wife. She was the only one who would come back after visiting my humble abode.

I am still with her or vice/versa, not sure.

I head to the woods tomorrow for 3 days in a 20ft coachman, seems like old times

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:54 | 4230953 Enslavethechild...
EnslavethechildrenforBen's picture

Well THAT sure justifies the Federal Reserve...

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:50 | 4230933 The Alarmist
The Alarmist's picture

Life is so much better when you live in a van down by the river!

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:51 | 4230938 NoWayJose
NoWayJose's picture

But the Fed says there is no inflation....

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:50 | 4230940 Papasmurf
Papasmurf's picture

Isn't the low-income tax credit really just corporate welfare?  From wikipedia

The credits are also commonly called Section 42 credits in reference to the applicable section of the Internal Revenue Code. The tax credits are more attractive than tax deductions as they provide a dollar-for-dollar reduction in a taxpayer's federal income tax, whereas a tax deduction only provides a reduction in taxable income. The "passive loss rules" and similar tax changes made by TRA86 greatly reduced the value of tax credits and deductions to individual taxpayers. As a result, almost all investors in LIHTC projects are corporations.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:51 | 4230949 ozzzo
ozzzo's picture

“Remarkably,” though, the study says,“soaring demand was more than enough to absorb the 2.7 million single-family homes that flooded into the rental market after 2007.”

This is not at all remarkable given the huge number of homes that have been taken off the market. In Detroit and elsewhere they are tearing down entire neighborhoods. Even here in the bay area every street has a vacant house. They are kicking out foreclosed borrowers and their tenants and leaving the houses vacant to decrease supply: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A0tW_g2bNg

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:55 | 4230960 Kreditanstalt
Kreditanstalt's picture

Er....what's "income"?

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 19:55 | 4230962 Big Ben
Big Ben's picture

With the assistance of the Fed, banks are not foreclosing and are witholding properties from the market, causing rents and home prices to be too high. The Fed is also forcing interest rates to be too low, hurting retirees. In theory, low interest rates should help new home buyers, but banks aren't making loans so the low interest rates don't really benefit anyone except the banks.

Tue, 12/10/2013 - 03:45 | 4231732 Debugas
Debugas's picture

"low interest rates should help new home buyers"

in reality jobless people can not repay the loans even with zero interest rates

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 20:04 | 4231017 ejmoosa
ejmoosa's picture

Sorry, but I am tired about hearing about the "poor".  Had we not been destroying the middle class, adding to the rolls of the poor as fast as governmentally possible, we would not be in this position.

You need to ask where the hell all these nouveau poor are coming from.

It's the Obama legacy, to be sure.

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 20:26 | 4231086 starfcker
starfcker's picture

new poor are imports. like most mumbo jumbo written and designed to confuse, this is a one sentence article. let's get right to the money quote. "things will be much worse if congress gets rid of the low income housing credit".  bullshit. great idea.  let's build more crap housing do we can import more people that can't support themselves. how about this. let housing reset to the only credible metric. the average wage needs to afford the the average rent/mortgage. gonna be some unhappy .govs as the tax base resets, so what? has to happen. in the words of a wise man on these boards, fuck the police. fuck the firefighters. fuck the teachers. once honorable professions gone grifter. there is no excuse

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 20:34 | 4231129 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

When I make it big, I am going to live in a fixed up Airstream

Tue, 12/10/2013 - 00:31 | 4231573 Borrow Owl
Borrow Owl's picture

It ain't home until you take the wheels off...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rydkOqLxngE

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 20:44 | 4231152 22winmag
22winmag's picture

There were 5,000 free black landowners in the Confederate States at the outbreak of the Civil War.

 

Just sayin...

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 21:31 | 4231275 QQQBall
QQQBall's picture

When I look at the data, which i frequently do, typical 2Br/1Bth rents are <2.5x Median HH income and sometimes quite a bit less. 

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 22:19 | 4231375 Yenbot
Yenbot's picture

Heh. Median income:

Salary, engineer, Santa Clara $120,000.00

HH income, Airport Worker $12,200.00

Taco Bell worker, $10,900

Median: $12,200.00

See what you can do with statistics?

Mon, 12/09/2013 - 21:49 | 4231311 Reaper
Reaper's picture

The Section 8 welfare housing pays directly to the landlord. What would be affordable housing is not available to those who earn income to pay rent, because landlords prefer the guaranteed rent to the unguaranteed rent of low wage earners. The government competes against the low wage earners and drives up the price of low priced housing.

Wed, 12/11/2013 - 12:36 | 4236294 MagicMoney
MagicMoney's picture

Excellent analysis. Indeed, subsidies put a floor on rent prices just as subsidies does for everything else. What government pays for in subsidizing renters is the lowest prices landlords willing to go for, or not surpass. It basically sets a what is equivalent a minimum wage on rents. Where minimum wage sets how low wages can go for, subsidies for rent can set the lowest price rent can go for as well. A landlord rather have a vacant living space for section 8 destitute than a low wage earner who does not have the guarantee of government behind him, or her. Section 8 further removes the risk for the landlord of not having rent due. It removes the incentive to satisfy consumers of variety of demographics to maximize profits, instead have a preference for only one group of people over others in the their respective market niches.

Tue, 12/10/2013 - 01:07 | 4231606 yogibear
yogibear's picture

The local governments are starting to want their cut as well with yearly rental licencing fees and inspections in order for an owner/landlord to rent. Otherwise there are large fines and fees.

Tue, 12/10/2013 - 04:01 | 4231745 starfcker
starfcker's picture

fucking grifters. a license to rent out your house. fuck the firemen

Tue, 12/10/2013 - 01:13 | 4231610 yogibear
yogibear's picture

Live in a trailer. Move elsewhere when the costs become too high. Property taxes are cheaper on undeveloped land.

Tue, 12/10/2013 - 01:53 | 4231635 Nimby
Nimby's picture

Fuck you.  Get a roommate.  Or two.

 

Shit, the fucking Mexicans can manage.

Tue, 12/10/2013 - 03:35 | 4231723 Debugas
Debugas's picture

the direction is clear - people will work for food and live in employer provided homes

i believe in the past they called it slavery

Tue, 12/10/2013 - 06:12 | 4231804 Onohymagin
Onohymagin's picture

There had to be a rent seekers, silver lining in the foreclosure cloud. And the Wall St mates have found it!

Wed, 12/11/2013 - 13:08 | 4236440 MagicMoney
MagicMoney's picture

The solution to unaffordable housing thus, & unaffordable rents is this.... Become like the naturalist Eustance Conway, move to the woods, build your own house with the materials in the surrounding environment. Will cost you little to no money, but trouble is, building codes will coerce you to spend a lot of money to keep the cheap house compliant, and well the cheap house, becomes an unaffordable house.

 

Economizing man is very capable of producing cheap houses, thing is, will the government even allow it in the first place. People who lived in 1776 in the wilderness lived in very cheap housing in relation to today cheapest houses allowed by government. Such houses built back in 1776 in the wilderness is a crime today. The economy in general is wealthier than 1776, so we take for granted for those who do have a modern dwelling as we know today, because of wealth we acculumated. If building codes today existed back in 1776, most dwellings wouldn't even exist, thus man would have to resort to living outside in the harshness of the wilderness unsheltered.

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