RE: Get Along Little Doggie?

[GRG55]

Re: Get Along Little Doggie?

That's a 'Bunker'? It's at least thrice as nice as my house!

My helper and I spent 3-1/2 years building it, starting with cribbing the footings (which are 7 ft below grade for frost protection here in the Rockies) and building it up from there. Once in a lifetime project (you have to get these things out of your system ).

I started it in 2008 in the depths of the financial crisis...and the label was applied by another iTuliper who accused me of secretly building a "bunker" as there were so many pundits predicting "the end of the world" at the time. The name stuck.

It was an absolutely perfect time to build it as everything from building materials to tools and appliances were being blown out in the mass inventory reductions. Both lumber and plywood prices are more than double what they were then, and components like my Pella, Iowa made windows are much more expensive now, in part because of the drop in the Canadian $ exchange rate.

Anybody who likes to work with their hands can get great satisfaction out of building their own home or cottage.

[lakedaemonian]

Re: Get Along Little Doggie?

My helper and I spent 3-1/2 years building it, starting with cribbing the footings (which are 7 ft below grade for frost protection here in the Rockies) and building it up from there. Once in a lifetime project (you have to get these things out of your system ).

I started it in 2008 in the depths of the financial crisis...and the label was applied by another iTuliper who accused me of secretly building a "bunker" as there were so many pundits predicting "the end of the world" at the time. The name stuck.

It was an absolutely perfect time to build it as everything from building materials to tools and appliances were being blown out in the mass inventory reductions. Both lumber and plywood prices are more than double what they were then, and components like my Pella, Iowa made windows are much more expensive now, in part because of the drop in the Canadian $ exchange rate.

Anybody who likes to work with their hands can get great satisfaction out of building their own home or cottage.

Is 7 feet the minimum standard or a bit overbuilt?

I remember helping dig and concrete in footings in the Northeast US where the requirement was 36 inches if memory serves......

We weren't so lucky in buying materials during the global fire sale(we bought a home once home went temporarily illiquid), but we have bought up a bunch of materials in the post earthquake fire sales.

I only wish we had windows down here like what I've seen in Europe.....they truly got BMW/Mercedes/Porsche windows...we've got Toyotas but no Lexus(or is that Lexi?) yet.

[Slimprofits]

Re: Get Along Little Doggie?

From afar the Twin Cities rental market looks reasonably priced, combined with a UE rate under 6% and I might seriously consider moving there. Good luck finding a vacant one bedroom apartment within 30 miles of Boston for less than $1000.00 per month... Using the standard landlord's guideline of rent not being more than 30% of gross income, for a person to live alone and not be a complete slave to the lease, we're talking about earning a minimum of roughly $3300.00 per month and $40k per year.

[don]

Re: Get Along Little Doggie?

Talked with a walking buddy - she works at Coldwell Banker in the finance department, not sales - and she said rents here in this 'village by the sea' Florida burg are through the roof. A tiny sub-divided cottage that used to rent for $700 tops is now going for $1500 and more.

[Slimprofits]

Re: Get Along Little Doggie?

Back to mortgages and the idea of "staying in the same class as one's parents" - Some of the local markets have a very real generational divide - if you look at a Case-Shiller chart that starts before 2000, you can see that prices (10 city composite) were stable through most of the 1990s and started rising with the stock bubble in late '97. So for example, here in Mass, anyone that bought a house before 1998 has a very reasonable mortgage and there are stark differences. 1200 square feet 3 bedroom houses sold in the 90s for $150k and are now expected to fetch AT LEAST $300k and in many towns and cities, $400k+. Now as in 2014, not in 2005. Those houses, of which there are very few on the rental market, are renting for $1800+.