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  • From: Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>
  • To: "homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org" <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Homestead] Most affordable living, 2005. Whew!
  • Date: Tue, 05 Jul 2005 15:09:34 -0700

I expect that, today, anyone over the age of thirty-five has stories that start with, "Why I remember when I could have bought that place for . . ."

I stay as informed of real estate prices and conditions as I can. But this article from the July 2005 edition of REALTOR magazine gave me pause:

"Affordable housing. The area comprising Boardman, Warren, and Youngstown, Ohio is the country's most affordable housing market among metropolitan areas with population greater than 500,000, says the National Association of Home Builders. In the area, which includes some neighborhoods across the Pennsylvania border, 90.2 percent of homes sold in the first quarter of 2005 were affordable to households earning the area median household income of $51,300. The median price of all homes sold in the area during that time was $86,000."

Compare those numbers with what homesteaders can do with far fewer purchase dollars and less income. That is not to diminish urban opportunity. One of the best ways to get your homestead stake remains in the city, with city income and city real estate appreciation. For most, my advice is: make it in the city and take it to the country. The caveat: before you do this, become as certain as humanly possible that that's the direction you wish to go. It is often emotionally and always financially painful to go in the other direction, from uplifting acreage to postage stamp lot.





  • [Homestead] Most affordable living, 2005. Whew!, Gene GeRue, 07/05/2005

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