"100% of people who do not save money do not have any!"--Dave Ramsey

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary

There comes up the question if there are better ways to invest. The stock market doesn't bind you too a fixed sum every month and can be more profitable with less work.

Of course. This assumes one wants to invest in real estate. Most family's largest investment is their home and they are investing in real estate whether they realize it or not. Your personal home can lose huge amounts of value - just ask anyone that lives in a town or city where the primary employer leaves and is not replaced

Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary

Of course it would be wise to not put all your money into just one thing because if that one thing goes south, there goes your money.

Yes, diversification is key. Which is another reason not to make a huge stretch to buy a home in an expensive metro. I know plenty of people that are so stretched on their mortgage they have no money to invest in anything else up to and including not investing in their 401K to get a 100% match

Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary

Also, who would be a good renter, or good at making money from renting? From what I'm hearing, you have to be the kind of person who says "no!" to a single mom with three cute kids or "no!" to an old lady who's only companion is her dog and instead rent the place out to a bunch of college kids. Why? Because the college kids are statistically less likely to damage the place than the kids and the dog and are much more likely to be able to pay the rent than the single mom or the widow.

Which is why you hire a professional property manager that knows the ins and outs of the business. The first thing our manager did was raise rents on our property from $550 to $700 a month to match the market in the area.

One side of our duplex has a family of 5, the other a single mom with a kid. No pets though - no way / no how.

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by JSH

Of course. This assumes one wants to invest in real estate. Most family's largest investment is their home and they are investing in real estate whether they realize it or not. Your personal home can lose huge amounts of value - just ask anyone that lives in a town or city where the primary employer leaves and is not replaced. Yes, diversification is key. Which is another reason not to make a huge stretch to buy a home in an expensive metro.

Ya, home buying is something I'd like to get into, but am afraid to make the wrong decision. That and the costs are impossible in my area right now. Looking back, I see that in 2008-2009 I should have bought a house back then but didn't.

Originally Posted by JSH

I know plenty of people that are so stretched on their mortgage they have no money to invest in anything else up to and including not investing in their 401K to get a 100% match

What's a 100% match? Sounds like an employee benefit. Sadly, in small towns like where I live the great majority of employeers do not offer benefits. Everyone is a small business or hire seasonally.

I get the feeling that where I live it's now getting the short end of both sticks. The job market isn't great and housing prices have jumped in leaps and bounds. The only way to make enough money and have benefits is to have a degree in something, such as being a doctor.

Of course that's another investment, go to college. But at my age it probably wouldn't be worth it even if I could.

Originally Posted by JSH

Which is why you hire a professional property manager that knows the ins and outs of the business. The first thing our manager did was raise rents on our property from $550 to $700 a month to match the market in the area.

One side of our duplex has a family of 5, the other a single mom with a kid. No pets though - no way / no how.

Where I live people with kids are getting put lower on the desireable list. There are several places that are known to never rent to people with kids. Maybe because there's been such a demand that rentors can choose at whim who best fits their perfect renter.

I know that this summer I tried to find a bigger place for my family; man, wife, three boys and no pets. I put in dozens of applications and paid hundreds in application fees and NO ONE ever got back to me with "we have a rental available for you and your family" even after my repeated inquires. Only one got back and asked if we were still looking but never got back to me after that with an actual rental available. But all of these places have rented houses and multi-bedroom apartments to single people who split the rent among room mates, most of whom are new to the valley and don't have 15 years living and working here like I do.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary

What's a 100% match? Sounds like an employee benefit. Sadly, in small towns like where I live the great majority of employeers do not offer benefits. Everyone is a small business or hire seasonally.

I get the feeling that where I live it's now getting the short end of both sticks. The job market isn't great and housing prices have jumped in leaps and bounds. The only way to make enough money and have benefits is to have a degree in something, such as being a doctor.

Of course that's another investment, go to college. But at my age it probably wouldn't be worth it even if I could.

Sounds like it might be time to look for a new place to live. I grew up in a dead auto town and left the state ASAP.

That said, if your housing prices are skyrocketing then either you are getting a lot of retirees or someone is paying enough to support those prices. What are all these people doing for work that are buying up homes?

Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary

Where I live people with kids are getting put lower on the desireable list. There are several places that are known to never rent to people with kids. Maybe because there's been such a demand that rentors can choose at whim who best fits their perfect renter.

I know that this summer I tried to find a bigger place for my family; man, wife, three boys and no pets. I put in dozens of applications and paid hundreds in application fees and NO ONE ever got back to me with "we have a rental available for you and your family" even after my repeated inquires. Only one got back and asked if we were still looking but never got back to me after that with an actual rental available. But all of these places have rented houses and multi-bedroom apartments to single people who split the rent among room mates, most of whom are new to the valley and don't have 15 years living and working here like I do.

Could be owners are choosing not to rent to families with kids (that would be illegal BTW) or it could be that the singles that are new to the area have jobs that pay more and show better rent to income ratios. They could be making California tech job money working remotely and choosing to live in Colorado.

Colorado is super hot right now. I personally know 3 people that have moved there from the Southeast in the last 2 years.

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by JSH

Sounds like it might be time to look for a new place to live. I grew up in a dead auto town and left the state ASAP.

That said, if your housing prices are skyrocketing then either you are getting a lot of retirees or someone is paying enough to support those prices. What are all these people doing for work that are buying up homes?

Ya, but moving out of the area you grew up in and all your family and friends live isn't easy. But maybe you are right.

Most people buying up housing are looking for second homes so they can come up here and ski, hunt and boat. That and the local college (now university) keeps growing with more and more students moving in and the town not planning and allowing for the growth.

That and everyone wants to move here because marijuana is legal now...

Originally Posted by JSH

Could be owners are choosing not to rent to families with kids (that would be illegal BTW) or it could be that the singles that are new to the area have jobs that pay more and show better rent to income ratios. They could be making California tech job money working remotely and choosing to live in Colorado.

Colorado is super hot right now. I personally know 3 people that have moved there from the Southeast in the last 2 years.

Most single people here seem to be here to go to college. "Places that won't rent to kids" don't openly say that. That's the gossip that goes around. Maybe the single people coming in just make more money or have deeper pockets kind of like you said.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary

Ya, but moving out of the area you grew up in and all your family and friends live isn't easy. But maybe you are right.

Sure it is. My wife and I packed up and left our hometown at 22. Since then we have moved states 3 more times in 21 years.

Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary

Most people buying up housing are looking for second homes so they can come up here and ski, hunt and boat. That and the local college (now university) keeps growing with more and more students moving in and the town not planning and allowing for the growth.

Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary

Most single people here seem to be here to go to college. "Places that won't rent to kids" don't openly say that. That's the gossip that goes around. Maybe the single people coming in just make more money or have deeper pockets kind of like you said.

Makes sense now. Both purchased houses and rentals are being driven by out-of-towners with deeper pockets. Houses are going to people wealthy enough to buy a 2nd home and rentals are going to college kids that are being rented based on the parents' income. If Wikipedia can be trusted more than 1/2 of the town's population are college students.

Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary

That and everyone wants to move here because marijuana is legal now...

Where isn't marijuana legal now? Joking, but there are only 14 states left that you can't smoke a little weed.

[Isaac Zachary]

[QUOTE=JSH;655370]Sure it is. My wife and I packed up and left our hometown at 22. Since then we have moved states 3 more times in 21 years.

Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary

Most people buying up housing are looking for second homes so they can come up here and ski, hunt and boat. That and the local college (now university) keeps growing with more and more students moving in and the town not planning and allowing for the growth.[/quote




Makes sense now. Both purchased houses and rentals are being driven by out-of-towners with deeper pockets. Houses are going to people wealthy enough to buy a 2nd home and rentals are going to college kids that are being rented based on the parents' income. If Wikipedia can be trusted more than 1/2 of the town's population are college students.



Where isn't marijuana legal now? Joking, but there are only 14 states left that you can't smoke a little weed.

It's one thing to move out when you're 22. It's another when you're nearly 40. Still, it might be the right move. Or at least I could start out telling the people I work for that I either need enough pay to afford a place to live or I'm going to have to quit.

I did try to live in Denver for six months when I was 21. It was miserable though, which is why I gave up and moved back into the mountains.

I do still have my CDL and it seems lots of places are wanting drivers. I just can't do trips that keep me away from my wife and kids though.

[Piotrsko]

Amazon does day trips between warehouses, Sherwin Williams ditto including amortizing loads as a broker. Couple's of freight companies I hired as a buyer ran trips Reno to vegas, but that's legally 2 days. Container haulers are turnaround day trips, but the trailer are mostly illegal for one reason or another.

These are all good paying jobs, but I wouldn't drive as a pro anymore, side benefits in other jobs are better and I had no arbitrary DOT Bs to deal with.

My neighbor made $100 grand driving gravel in an end dump on the Spaghetti bowl remake here.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary

It's one thing to move out when you're 22. It's another when you're nearly 40. Still, it might be the right move.

"My wife and I packed up and left our hometown at 22. Since then we have moved states 3 more times in 21 years."

22,23, 29, 36 and we plan to pick up roots again in 2023. Basically once we are established in an area establish a circle a friends it is time to move again.

Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary

I did try to live in Denver for six months when I was 21. It was miserable though, which is why I gave up and moved back into the mountains.

What was miserable? Just the hustle and bustle of city life?

Both of my parents grew up in rural areas. They both moved to the city and lived a pretty decent middle class life. Family that stayed rural struggled financially in exchange for low density living without neighbors in sight.

Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary

I do still have my CDL and it seems lots of places are wanting drivers. I just can't do trips that keep me away from my wife and kids though.

Yes, there is a severe driver shortage. I'm seeing ads right now for $15K signing bonuses for new drivers and full benefits. However, to get a short haul route you will likely have to move to a city.

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by JSH

What was miserable? Just the hustle and bustle of city life?

The main reason was not being able to get a decent job. It seemed like everywhere there was a job opening there was already a line of 50 people wanting to get the same job. The three jobs I had there were the worst. Once as a night shift cook at a Del Taco, then as a waiter at a Mexican restaurant where everyone stole my tips constantly making me earn only $2 an hour and then I worked at a big roofing company that would make me work nearly 80 hours in one week then lay me off the next and claim I worked 40 hours two weeks so no overtime, so only $5 an hour, plus they put you through this safety training course that means absolutely nothing to everyone once you're on the job leaning over the edge of a Walmart roof with no safety equipment.

That and the city life. I'm accustomed to seeing deer in my yard every day, to go out hiking and biking and such, to go sleding in the winter with the kids. We love going and seeing the moose, elk, bears, mountain lions, linx, eagals and owls. We camped just last weekend. Lots of sites to see and do here, even on foot or bike, and feel like we haven't even scratched the surface even after living here my whole life. We like to have friends over to BBQ out in the back yard or out in the woods and play guitar together.

But we don't have movie theaters or malls or such and haven't ever been interested in going to them either. Since I've been married 15 years ago we've gone to a movie theater 3 times. One of those times we walked out within the first 10 minutes. We also do not eat out. My parents never took us out to eat. Of course back then the nearest McDonald's was an hour away. But down in the city those kinds of things seems to be other people's idea of fun. Maybe if that's what the boys would want to do I'd do it for the boys.

But of course it doesn't help when you're dirt poor and broke like back when I tried to live in the city. I didn't even have a car or a bed to sleep in; just a piece of cardboard in a basement. But I did like taking the bus or biking all over the city, and would even consider not owning a car if we lived in the city again, seeing how my wife says she can't drive in the city and would take the bus too. Although the car could be our means of escape from the city on the weekends and there's also COVID.

[redpoint5]

I'm seeing signs at fast food joints advertising $15/hr and signing bonuses. There are jobs around cities for people that want to work, but then that means commuting into a city.

I miss many things about living near PDX, but traffic and dirtbags are huge negatives I can do without.