I think this is an idealisitc dream...but wouldn't it be great if : 1. 30% of those homes could be allocated to the homeless?
2. 40% of those homes could be reduced to where a person making 12,000$ to 50,000$ could afford them, paying a very low interest loan for only 10 years?
3. 30% could given away in a lottery, from 1 $ ( very small houses, maybe some fix'em ups or starters etc.) to 10$ for 4-6 bedrooms, larger, nicer houses etc. to those who earn less than $50,000? The lottery money could go to homeless programs around the nation.
This number is unsurprising, as the Census policies on when to label a place vacant are numerous (i was an Enumerator...) Um, The article doesn't differentiate between regular vacant, UHEs (usual home elsewhere) and gosh... Whatever other labels there were that I've thankfully blocked from my mind.
Some areas have a LOT of summer homes. Which are all classified as vacant.
More than once I had to search for proxies on "housing units" that clearly had not been touched in years (like old garages that could collapse at any minute) but could not be removed from the official list because they technically counted as a Place a person might live. And, my favorite: someone who put the dots on the maps mistook a driveway for a road. The family was very wealthy and had no less than five separate vacant buildings that I had to write up individually as vacant lots.
I live in rural New England, by the by, I know that makes a difference.
A lot of those listing vacant buildings here have collapsed under the unusually heavy snow. The really OLD ones are still standing since they have steeper roofs, but the midcentury abandoned stuff, its finally giving collapsing.
Not a whole lot have gone down, but some that were already structurally unsound. It's really ones that have had the edge of the roofbeafs exposed, so they've slowly rotted upwards from the exposed ends. why the heck anyone constructs things that way, no clue.
We keep expecting our shed to eventually go over, but nope, still standing! The roof went out a few years ago due a tree falling on it, but we just put the plastic sheet roofing on. It's also missing an exterior wall, it continues to be fine. The studs are there, we just covered it in plastic sheeting instead of putting proper board back on
I do to a degree. I mean, it's been nice having a landlord to make sure things stay nice around here, but at the same time I can't help but dream of my own place where I get to make all the decorating choices (and where I won't hear neighbors through walls and ceilings and I'm not constantly worried about what might get damaged that will get me into trouble, etc.).
Plus, and maybe this is just because it is where I live, I've seen some houses that have very do-able mortgages (i.e my uncle lives in a small, but comfy, three bedroom home with a fixed rate mortgage, no down payment (it was factored in overall) and a $900 a month bill). So, for me, the dream is still very much alive. It is sad to see it is dying for so many other people, though. :(
Same. I want a place that I can redecorate and even do major renovations on, have some distance between me and my neighbors, that my landlord can't up the rent on 5% or more a year or suddenly decide to convert to condos I can't afford...
I'm sorry, and maybe this is overly jaded of me, but what's the point?
First, let's assume I can ever get out from under my now-510 credit score, which will never happen, since I'm now one of the "long-term unemployed" and thus undesirable, because I must have totally forgotten how to fix computers while using one every day, and don't have the money to pay what I owe, and even if I DID pay everything off, I then don't have ENOUGH credit to get any MORE credit to raise my credit score, so seriously FUCK THE CREDIT SYSTEM IN THIS FUCKING COUNTRY. /rant
But anyway, let's assume by some fucking wonder of wonder miracle of miracles I get a job, pay off everything, get the right kind of credit, and have a high enough score to buy a house. I buy one. We pay it off. THEN, if we have some kind of financial crisis and can't pay property tax, they can STILL take it. You never actually own it. So what's the point?
This isn't true everywhere - Florida has such strict laws that it is virtually impossible to repossess someone's home. You can do everything else to them, but you can't take their house, even if they adopted Osama Bin Laden and dressed him up as a Barbie doll and paraded him around at Ladies' Night Karaoke at the local pub every week.
when you own property, its yours. (or at least thats the theory) within reason you can do what you want with/on it......gives you security.......at least moreso than renting...where you can be evicted at any given time..
One of the big reasons I've seen for buying a home/condo vs renting is so you can have pets. So many places don't allow pets... The place I have the business at does not officially allow pets, but three dogs, and probably at least that many cats. (it's really "you can't move in with a pet, but once its been determined you're not going to move out after three months, having destroyed the place, you can have a pet". The majority of tenants have been there at least 5 years)
And a lot of apartments that do allow pets have a size limit. so if you have your heart set on a great dane, you're really buying the house as a dog house.
Also if you have some sort of hobby or job that requires a goodly amount of space to do and you can'd do in an apartment. My father ran an electronics business out of the house for years, and really, wouldn't have worked trying to cram a drillpress and a sonic cleaner into an apartment.
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Ghost story vacant houses and the unseen
I think this is an idealisitc dream...but wouldn't it be great if :
1. 30% of those homes could be allocated to the homeless?
2. 40% of those homes could be reduced to where a person making 12,000$ to 50,000$ could afford them, paying a very low interest loan for only 10 years?
3. 30% could given away in a lottery, from 1 $ ( very small houses, maybe some fix'em ups or starters etc.) to 10$ for 4-6 bedrooms, larger, nicer houses etc. to those who earn less than $50,000?
The lottery money could go to homeless programs around the nation.
I know.
I make a lousy capitalist.
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Um, The article doesn't differentiate between regular vacant, UHEs (usual home elsewhere) and gosh... Whatever other labels there were that I've thankfully blocked from my mind.
Some areas have a LOT of summer homes. Which are all classified as vacant.
More than once I had to search for proxies on "housing units" that clearly had not been touched in years (like old garages that could collapse at any minute) but could not be removed from the official list because they technically counted as a Place a person might live. And, my favorite: someone who put the dots on the maps mistook a driveway for a road. The family was very wealthy and had no less than five separate vacant buildings that I had to write up individually as vacant lots.
I live in rural New England, by the by, I know that makes a difference.
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We keep expecting our shed to eventually go over, but nope, still standing! The roof went out a few years ago due a tree falling on it, but we just put the plastic sheet roofing on. It's also missing an exterior wall, it continues to be fine. The studs are there, we just covered it in plastic sheeting instead of putting proper board back on
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Plus, and maybe this is just because it is where I live, I've seen some houses that have very do-able mortgages (i.e my uncle lives in a small, but comfy, three bedroom home with a fixed rate mortgage, no down payment (it was factored in overall) and a $900 a month bill). So, for me, the dream is still very much alive. It is sad to see it is dying for so many other people, though. :(
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First, let's assume I can ever get out from under my now-510 credit score, which will never happen, since I'm now one of the "long-term unemployed" and thus undesirable, because I must have totally forgotten how to fix computers while using one every day, and don't have the money to pay what I owe, and even if I DID pay everything off, I then don't have ENOUGH credit to get any MORE credit to raise my credit score, so seriously FUCK THE CREDIT SYSTEM IN THIS FUCKING COUNTRY. /rant
But anyway, let's assume by some fucking wonder of wonder miracle of miracles I get a job, pay off everything, get the right kind of credit, and have a high enough score to buy a house. I buy one. We pay it off. THEN, if we have some kind of financial crisis and can't pay property tax, they can STILL take it. You never actually own it. So what's the point?
Nope, I'll never buy.
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That's possibly the strangest mental image I've had in awhile, though. XD
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And a lot of apartments that do allow pets have a size limit. so if you have your heart set on a great dane, you're really buying the house as a dog house.
Also if you have some sort of hobby or job that requires a goodly amount of space to do and you can'd do in an apartment. My father ran an electronics business out of the house for years, and really, wouldn't have worked trying to cram a drillpress and a sonic cleaner into an apartment.
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