So is the s*%t starting to hit the fan for you?

[Beekissed]

I've noticed that many folks in this area haven't caught onto the fact that the realty market is down.

Some of the prices are so ridiculously high that you wonder if they are thinking, "Well, the economy is down so I have to get lots of money from the sale of this house so that I will have some security during these hard times!"

Who in the world is going to buy their sky high homes? Delusional much?

 

[Mackay]

Living the last 8 years in Salt Lake we saw our property values hit the sky! At one point the 219,000 house we bought went to to 450,000. Then the SFTF in 2008. Becasue we were in a desirable neighborhood we managed to sell for 375,000. It seemed like a miracle, and our real estate agent said it was. We took the money and ran.

With cash in hand we moved to the country and now have everything paid for and we are in the process of building a small house on 8 acres, mostly by my husbands labor alone, but he does hire help for this and that, and the kids come up and help when they can.

Salt Lake has not been hit as hard as some other areas.

But my SIL has been trying to sell her house in Salem Oregon for a couple of years with no real offers. My husband says its a very nice horse property.

They bought 5 acres near us before we bought our property here in Idaho. They built a large barn on it with stables for their two horses. BIL lost his job. Worked on census this year. They could no longer afford the house in Salem or wait anylonger to sell it. Couldn't make payments. They are now heading into foreclosure.
They left the house behind and are now in Idaho near us. Instead of building a house like they planned they are turing the loft in the barn into an appartment. They will have fairly good income from a disability for my SIL and some pension or something for him from a previous job several years ago that he worked at for ages... but no house to come.

For us, starting as of this month we will be trying to learn how to live on my husbands social security 1,500 per month. We have no pensions... I think we can to it.. no sweat. Our bills are so much less here and all is paid for in the housing dept.

If they cut social security we are in deep do doo. Where we are now is fairly remote and properties are hard to sell just for that reason if we had to downsize to a trailer or something. I thought there would be some nursing work for me but not so far.

I think we have been very blessed with a hell of alot of good luck backed by many years of hard work.

I am so conerned that so many others out there won't even get the chance we had.

My brother is a 911 dispach manager in Sacramento, California. He says that homelessness is way up there. And every once in a while the authorities, whom ever that is, move people out of the city from under bridges and parks to the country. These are people, some with cars and jobs but no home... busted flat and nearly broken.

 

[chicksbestfriend]

The s*%t started hitting the fan for us over a year ago, but at least the fan blades are still spinning, so we are cool for now. Simply a miracle by a power greater than ourselves. We were able to refinance our home at a much lower interest rate right before the tighter lending retrictions hit and our property value hit rock bottom. We owe way more on it than what it has been assessed at. Then hubby came down with a potential deadly illness right after the refinance and was hospitalized for two months and is now permanently disabled from the illness. To further compound the issues, during his stay in the hospital, I get laid off from my job! The lender called the day before I was notified of the layoff to verify employment and wages. By the skins of our teeth! Businesses are folding, unemployment is at it highest, food prices are soaring. I have been putting my resume out everywhere for the past 13 months, no hits, one is lucky if it gets looked at with the hundreds of other resumes flooding the potential employers. The local colleges are filled with alot of middle aged folks looking to sharpen their skills to become employable in these hard hit times. Alot of white collars have turned blue, houses are foreclosing in the hundreds every month that they cannot list them all. Many vacant and abandoned houses. Over the past year, we have turned to being more self sufficient, looking for ways and means to get us through, as I dont think we have hit the worst of this modern day depression yet. Seriously thinking about investing in wind or solar for our electrical needs, utilities have skyrocketed beyond belief. Our sons have been providing food for the table and freezer from hunting and fishing as well as our backyard flock. Bartering services and goods seems to be the new norm around here. Seems like the middle class is being eliminated. For richer or for poorer........ Thank goodness for those swimming lessons in my youth, I learned how to tread water to keep my head above the water! The only thing pushing us forward is our faith................ these times too shall pass.

 

[Mackay]

What part of the country are you in Chicksbestfriend?

Thank god you have the resources to pull through.

 

[rebecca100]

Fortunatly dh and I are poor people. We are used to not having money therefore we don't need it as much. We work hard and pay for what we have and have been blessed to own 2 properties, a good backhoe and dumptruck(older of course) and reliable vehicles. He and I average barely $30,000 a year and have three kids. I am 28 and he is 31. Other than my dad leaving me his home on a lot, we have worked for everything we have. We own both properties, but unfortunately we took out a loan for the backhoe and still owe about $7,000 on it and we also are paying on my car we just got. Both will be payed off in about 2 years. We have a greenhouse and are trying to learn about solar power and alternative power. So when the shtf hopefully we will be ready for it! The one thing that still bumbuzzles me is how to feed the livestock if you don't have money for feed. In that case I think that pasture and rotation will be essential.

 

[2dream]

Not sure what is happening around here since I only come to work and go home. I try not to watch the news because crime has always been a problem plus I work from daylight to dark. My job is ok for right now. DH lost his job in June due to health issues. So I am the only income. Food won't be an issue for us because of the chickens, rabbits and garden plus the pantry is full of purchased and home canned goods. Our house is paid for but we do have a land payment on some property we purchased a few years ago. We have always been frugal so as long as I am employeed we will be ok there. My neighbors house has been on the market for almost a year now, but he is asking way more than he paid, plus with the drop in home prices he will never come close to getting what he paid for it since he purchased just a few months before the bubble burst and paid way more than he should have.

I do know that cities and counties around here are in trouble. One city has already laid of all of their road maintenance crew except for 2 people and all city and county workers have reduced hours, plus the county workers for the county I live in is cutting back everyones hours. Another city is cutting back employee hours plus no replacing some of the people who are retireing. There is even talk that some state workers are going on reduced hours.

I think what bothers me most for my particular situation and area is the cities and counties being in hot water. Its difficult enough right now for me to make ends meet. But if they all increase my taxes to meet their out of budget overspending, I might still be homeless due to not being able to pay my taxes.

Vicious cycle.

 

[urban dreamer]

It's really depressing. My SO has not been able to find even a reliable part time job since he graduated . I'm lucky to have the job I have no mater how much I can't stand it. We don't make nearly enough to move out from his parent's house so my SS obsession has to be supressed. If he could just get a part time job. We would still be poor, but we would be poor with a home of our own. I can only read and learn as much as I can. I have started to learn to weld and hopefully that will help me get away from this desk job. The S*** is really hitting the fan here. Our neighboorhood used to be one of the best around, but now, people are moving out and trash is moving in. Crime has really increased. We can barely afford the gas to get from home to work to class. The storm is comming ya'll.

My SO told me the other day "At least your crazy hobbies produce something usefull, we can't eat my guitar when the world ends."

 

[firem3]

As I posted in another thread i am taking a $14,000 a year pay cut so i guess the ole crapola has hit our fan. I am a firefighter in a very large city who has seen the city income dwindle lately mostly due to no industry anymore, which was the city's main source of income. It has turned to the medical industry which have been given enormous tax breaks to operate here. I am very thankful to even have a job right now. The housing market has died here, in fact the market is so bad here there is still a house sitting half built from 4 years ago that i half plumbed (before i lost my plumbing company) and was told by the builder to stop work because the bank wouldnt release his money, a sign of what was to come i think. I truly believe we are going into a time of great danger and difficulty, i am not really a doom and gloomer but it is just the signs i see. Thank God for the lessons I learned from my dad and granfather on how to garden, farm and work hard. These days are the days to keep your friends and family close and your guns closer. God help us all.

 

[Shiloh Acres]

I've had the (mis?)fortune to live in three different economically depressed areas over the recent couple of years. It's interesting to see how different areas react.

In one people just tightened their belts, but I did see a lot of spending on comfort-type things. Foreclosures are way up there, businesses are just hanging in there or shutting down. Crime is up.

In another people don't seem to have a clue. Everyone is losing their job, service businesses are closing, construction is down, but people are shopping their brains out and restaurants are booming. This is a traditionally prosperous area.

Here where I am now, I think they are used to a depressed economy. People are poor. There are few businesses. The ones that seem to do best are repair shops and tire stores. I think the feed store is ok too. All the general little mom and pop owned places are mostly gone, looks like. Few restaurants, and those are cheap ones. Foreclosures through the roof. My street is about half empty -- has been for a few years. It's a rural area, but the guy at the end of the road had his house cleaned out recently. I'm glad my pup is getting big and generally intimidates people very effectively and I have a lot of noisy guard animals so I know if anything's up. (flocks of geese and guineas and even the goats yell their heads off if they see anyone. The llamas sometimes alarm too)

Jobs are scarce here. You can apply WAY under your expertise for years and not get hired. Many people who live in the country are and have been dirt-poor for years. On a way though, I think that lessens any recent impact. For most people, it's no different than it has been. But in the big city near here, MANY folks are trying to sell their homes before they lose them and change fields. Less banking, more healthcare. There's a lot of ag around and those folks may be better off, except the drought and crazy weather is making it harder to feed stock. Some are selling off herds in anticipation of not being able to feed them.

I am blessed, myself. I've been living on next to nothing for years, but something always comes through when I need it. I eat VERY well, at least -- my animals and my garden are providing well. I don't have years of stuff stored, but if I was willing to eat whatever in a pinch, I probably could make it for a year on what I have. Not bad I think for only a few months living here. And I have possible leads for work from church. Pay is terrible, but it's a job. And pretty much everyone around here works for terrible pay. Utilities are going sky-high. I would like to look into alternatives but haven't made it that far yet. But I have no personal debt at least, and don't need much.

From living these different places, I think all have been affected. How the people respond is different though.

 

[abifae]

I think they're going to try to force prices down a couple more years and when it finally crashes it will be worse than if they just let it go.

The thing is... we are in a global economy and no one has figured out this means you can't use the same business practices and until it crashes and forces people to re-align their thinking to a global view, nothing can change. Humans resist change. If it is currently making them money, they won't be able to change a practice that is a risk. If they are lost already, they'll be much more willing to take a huge leap.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/laurie_santos.html

Great video that discusses risk and money and when and why. It fits this situation perfectly. People are staying where it is "safe" because they are making money at it.

I am torn about unemployment money. On the one hand, it keeps the economy going on borrowed time, sorta... On the other, it keeps things "safe" and risks cannot be taken. I think I'm more against it than for it, but not because i think it makes people lazy or because of the debt. I think it gives a false sense of security at the same time as prolonging the real issues.

In any case, I'm smack in the middle of Denver and am planning on making tracks for Auntie Zilla's when the SHTF, but we'll see what happens

I can grow deadly nightshade. That's a good thing, right? I'm also good at cooking (I need to learn to butcher though) and good at sex (and anyone who doesn't think THAT is going to save my life hasn't studied history). Beyond that, I don't have many skills but all the things that make me a danger in society now will be great boons. Hoorah.