The State of Ourselves...

[Javaman]

I consider my wife and I very lucky in these times. Our house is paid for, we have no debt, we are able to make all our bills and have some left over at the end of the month for savings. We live very from from extravagant. We have a simple life.

Anyway, the house behind us is up for sale. It's on a huge piece of land (by suburbia standards). Almost 1/2 of an acre. From our backyard, I see an very large workshop shed, a built-in pool that has since gone back to nature and a very large yard.

My wife and I, her ex and another friend thought about going in together as an investment property/rental.

We would rent it to her daughter who would then turn it into a commercial kitchen/house.

As for myself, I saw it as an opportunity to increase our garden into a small urban farm.

I was aware that the house would need work. It was, as our Realtor would say, "well lived in".

After spending the past two years renovating our own house, although not eager, I was still up to the task.

So off we went yesterday to take a look at the house with the Realtor.

Into the house we went. The owner, unlike many people who show their homes, didn't leave and was there the whole time. She was in her 60's and didn't look in the best of health.

After a quick cursory look, my opinion was the interior had to be completely gutted down to the studs.

It had no central air. (remember, this is texas). the house was built in 1960.

There was a bunch of other things that I won't go into but you get the idea.

We went out to the yard. It was huge and by and far the best part. However, upon close examination, I was finding various archaeological pieces of old car parts partially buried in the lawn from years gone by. The "shed" reeked of gasoline. It was a loss completely.

The pool looked like a set from a horror movie. Also a complete loss.

while walking back into the house, the owner made an offhand cloaked comment to a "younger" gentleman that was there regarding someone else that lived there and recently died.

With that little comment, I put two and two together.

She priced the house way to high at 130K. If she gets 80K it will be a minor miracle. Someone apparently offered her 95k and she turned them down.

She lived in the house since 1980. It probably sold back then in the 40-500K range, yet she still had a 100k note on it. She needed to sell it because she was in over her head and couldn't pay the mortgage. She was asking way to much. The house was probably still worth only 50k. I don't think they did any repairs in the 28 years they lived there.

So why would a person who bought a 50K house, have a 100K note still on it after 28 years?

Only one conclusion: medical bills.

It was a sad home, not in the respect of it just not being up-kept, but of emotion. Something sad went down in that house. And as a result, this woman and possibly her husband, who later died, put their all into that house and at one time was a happy home. But then things changed, he probably got sick, they sucked up their savings, their health-care was either non-existent or just a bad plan who denied them coverage and pushed them overboard.

So perhaps he had a small life insurance plan and with taking a second mortgage out on the house, thinking he will survive, they will have a few rough years, they will get it back together.

But alas, he passed away. The small life insurance plan was probably a paltry sum and the mortgage was just to much to handled on a single income or more than likely Social Security to cover.

Our real estate agent stated, that if we really wanted the land, we could keep an eye on it and see if it goes into foreclosure.

My hearts not in it. Not because it needs a colossal amount of work, but just emotionally. I would feel like a vulture picking over the remains of our society.

Some people may say, "heck, get past that, it's a huge piece of land", but honestly, I can't.

I don't know where I'm going with this, but here in Austin, we have been pretty well insulated against the housing/credit bubble, but there are still people out there that are dying not because of that, but because the health care system in this nation sucks.

I'm still relatively young and healthy and so is my wife, but there is nothing to say that that couldn't be us in a few years.

[Hydra]

1. Ironically, you'll be lucky if it's that great by the time you get to be the same age

Because it's all downhill from here. The peons don't matter- ask any obscenely rich person.

Culling- pure and simple.