Land Scout
P and I are starting to take a look at real estate and its sickening to find out what people are expecting for houses out here these days. Still.
In the light of a recession that's abused this area pretty well there are still plenty of folks with cash (I'm guessing they cashed out of the boom before it crumpled). Which is great for them but it means we have a still over inflated housing market.

Think a million bucks for a two bedroom about a block from the beach with no yard, no privacy and no second story.

So, with the concept of buying a house pretty much ruled out by insanity, I've been digging into buying some land in the area and building our own house on it. So I am now a Land Scout, which sounds kind of cool.

Yesterday was the first trip we've taken to go and check out some land we're potentially interested in. Its up in the redwoods and would be workable but we couldn't get to the exact address as the realtor didn't have it handy. But the area is more vertical than horizontal so it will cost a ton just to get to the point where we can build. Its not out yet but its on the way.

And I'm tempted to look nationally to see if there's more reasonable housing available somewhere else where the job market is better as well. I mean, paying $50K for land isn't bad but if it costs another $50k to get it buildable then that's alot more expensive, eh?

But it's been an interesting experience that was mirrored for a while by a co-worker who was starting the process of getting a loan to buy a house. After having all the number run and figuring out what it would all cost him on a monthly basis he has since decided to keep renting for now. With fees, interest, insurance or home owner's dues and everything else it would have been costing him more than $3000 a month to buy a house. Now extend that out over 30 years and you've got one hell of a lot of money being paid for a house. Actually, the way it works is a $450K house will cost $1.08 million by the time its been paid off at those numbers.

That's insane.
So I think we'll start a little smaller and build it up from there. Get land (more than we need if at all possible), build a basic living structure or buy a double wide to live in while the house is slowly constructed. Sounds like fun, eh? Yeah, that's what I thought too. But it beats essentially setting fire to my monthly rent, doesn't it? Its got to.

And there's the other side, that once you own your own land, no one can tell you that you can't have dogs and cats or whatever else you want (within reason, of course). So now its just a question of where we throw down roots and start making a home. I can't wait.

By the way, go and read Gudy for more on the joys of home construction.

Blogging Birthday News
Everyone wish Wil Wheaton (yeah, of Star Trek: TNG fame) who also happens to write a blog. Well today's his 31st birthday, I think. Its a shame he pulled the comments from his blog because that was half the fun of reading up on him. Anyway, Happy Birthday, Wil!