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Driving around town the other day with a friend, he was talking about how all of the neighborhoods have all gone down hill, no one takes care of their house anymore, etc.
I made the observation that this is a byproduct of our throw away society. A cell phones average life is 18 months. People are buying a new TV every three years or so. Cars aren't really fixed anymore, often they are totaled out by the insurance company and you go and buy a new car.
No one is used to taking care of major purchases anymore, and it shows in how our neighborhoods look and feel.
So should we lower housing standards for their building? Make sure they can last a decade, but lower the cost of the production so its cheaper to just buy a new pop up decade house to replace it? Recycle the old house into new building materials?
The main reason we can't do that are the construction standards for houses.
Well, you may take care of your home, and it costs you 200,000 dollars. But the "free market" around you doesn't take care of their homes, so they look degraded, and draws the value of your home down.
If people are truly enjoying and getting used to a recycle, rebuild, throw away society, why shouldn't housing be allowed to follow suit?
Well, you may take care of your home, and it costs you 200,000 dollars. But the "free market" around you doesn't take care of their homes, so they look degraded, and draws the value of your home down.
If people are truly enjoying and getting used to a recycle, rebuild, throw away society, why shouldn't housing be allowed to follow suit?
Driving around town the other day with a friend, he was talking about how all of the neighborhoods have all gone down hill, no one takes care of their house anymore, etc.
I made the observation that this is a byproduct of our throw away society. A cell phones average life is 18 months. People are buying a new TV every three years or so. Cars aren't really fixed anymore, often they are totaled out by the insurance company and you go and buy a new car.
No one is used to taking care of major purchases anymore, and it shows in how our neighborhoods look and feel.
So should we lower housing standards for their building? Make sure they can last a decade, but lower the cost of the production so its cheaper to just buy a new pop up decade house to replace it? Recycle the old house into new building materials?
The main reason we can't do that are the construction standards for houses.
Your thoughts?
HUGE mistake to lower or eliminate construction standards! HUGE MISTAKE.
I've seen - first hand, and many times - the crap low-end builders & ignorant DIYers pull off. And I'll guarantee you that MANY house are already death traps waiting to happen.
What we need is education. A person that doesn't want to do the work of keeping a home nice should just rent. Period. Dispense with this idea that rent is just "throwing your money away," because 80% of your monthly mortgage & escrows is money you'll never get back.
HUGE mistake to lower or eliminate construction standards! HUGE MISTAKE.
I've seen - first hand, and many times - the crap low-end builders & ignorant DIYers pull off. And I'll guarantee you that MANY house are already death traps waiting to happen.
What we need is education. A person that doesn't want to do the work of keeping a home nice should just rent. Period. Dispense with this idea that rent is just "throwing your money away," because 80% of your monthly mortgage & escrows is money you'll never get back.
HUGE mistake to lower or eliminate construction standards! HUGE MISTAKE.
I've seen - first hand, and many times - the crap low-end builders & ignorant DIYers pull off. And I'll guarantee you that MANY house are already death traps waiting to happen.
What we need is education. A person that doesn't want to do the work of keeping a home nice should just rent. Period. Dispense with this idea that rent is just "throwing your money away," because 80% of your monthly mortgage & escrows is money you'll never get back.
If they are "death traps" waiting to happen, why aren't we hearing about people dying daily on the news? I've seen fires and other things from poor electrical standards, but not the building standards themselves.
I'm not saying that we should build houses where they are going to fall on people after a year or something, but now we are forcing houses to be built for 20/30 years or longer. Since no one is taking care of their homes, why not make them cheaper, by lowering standards, so they can be replaced in 10 years or so?
You will NEVER get back the money you pay in property taxes, in homeowners' insurance, in mortgage interest, and in PMI. And unless you're far different than most American homeowners, that's at least 80% of your monthly mortgage payment.
Our whole home-ownership mindset is completely backwards! We've been trained to think that you need to buy the most expensive house you can afford, with the longest mortgage loan available, and use the (supposed) equity to sustain an unsustainable lifestyle. Look where it has gotten us.
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