I live in the USA, and our future seems more bleak than it ever has. Is not about politics, although politicians do have an impact on it. It’s really about our quality of life, and cost of living, which has not changed for the better, it seems, in a really long time. The cost of living keeps going up higher and higher, and much of our country still believes that even with increased cost of living, there is never any reason whatsoever to pay people more. So for instance, a job that paid 10 bucks an hour in the year 2002, that same job might still pay $10 an hour now. But I think we all know that the cost of living has dramatically gone up from 2002 to now.
Even White collar jobs though seem to be threatened to now, which is not something I’ve ever seen before. Positions like analyst, engineer, business intelligence, revenue management, whatever you want to think of. Any corporate office job, people are suffering. The cost of living is absurd, buying a house is simply out of reach unless you have dual income and it better be nearly six figure dual income…
I just don’t see how Americans at large are going to survive the next 30 years?
How’s the job market?
I have absolutely no idea how to answer that question in any meaningful way.
I was struggling to find the right way to phrase the question, and I failed. I guess what I really wanted to know was: for a typical working class person, is a house at that price within reach? Or if you move there for the cheap houses and get a job, do you end up still barely able to afford the payments?
I had supposed that’s what you were asking, however I am fairly well removed from the job market as I have been for over a few decades now and so the reality of the situation is not near to my grasp well enough for me to know and/or be able to meaningfully give you any indication on how things actually are.
I moved to Detroit from a HCOL city I was established in. I was renting and the options I had to buy were not hopeful. The taxes alone would have kept me working for more money year over year for the foreseeable future.
I took what would have been a down payment and bought a place outright. I bought a project and it was cheap, only half my down payment fund.
Now I am all set up. I have no mortgage to pay. My house costs me taxes ($1700/yr) and insurance ($1500/yr) plus utilities ($50 internet, $150 gas&electric, $60 water) That is about $550/month.
In michigan, taxable value increases are capped at 5%.
I figure I can work any job and stay ahead of the bills. Yesterday I did a brake job for a friend of a friend for $200 and didn’t even need to leave the house. I can do things like this here and there and get by without even having a job.
I have never known this amount of stability in housing as an adult before. It is wild. I own this whole damn house and everything in it. I also made a bunch of equity right out the gate by fixing up an abandoned trap house.
Not trying to lay out a plan for others, just wanted to share how my plan has been a success and that Detroit is a place where home ownership is attainable.
Oh, couple other things. I have no kids and the schools were not a problem for me. Although the neighborhood kids are all wonderful.
I am not interested in living in “the country”. I am a city person, I want my resources close. I can walk to a hardware, grocery, and auto parts store from my place. No thanks on 30min drives to dollar general and TSC on the fancy days.
This story is inspiring. I feel like there are a lot of people who wouldn’t feel like it’s within reach (no building/renovating skills or experience, or certain neighborhoods that maybe don’t feel safe to a single woman for instance, and yeah schools as you mentioned if you’re a parent or planning to be)—but for the people who can do that, it sounds like an absolutely phenomenal route to take.