Paintblot has a friend who's headin' for the hills, gonna live in a tent year round.
This got me thinking on a couple of fronts. First is the millions of FB's who are about to lose their homes. Where will they go? Apartments and rent might be tough for some of them, as they'll be bankrupt, and if they're not they'll have some serious financial and tax issues to deal with. Will the government support them in trailers, a-la Katrina homeless?
Then there's our youth - a generation of folks who'll graduate from high school or college, or returning soldiers from Iraq, who because of the stupid bubble for at least a few more years will not be able to afford a starter home.
And then there's a growing counterculture of people who reject consumerism, capitalism and globalization, call it the Burning Man crowd, who have no desire to buy an overpriced stucco home, and a strong desire to get off the grid and live off the land.
Finally, there's a generation of retiring boomers who are about to lose their entire life's savings at the exact wrong time - right before they retire. Folks who thought they were rich because their home appreciated so much, blew any other savings they had, and then are now finding out that the paper gain on the house wasn't there after all. Many of these folks sucked out their phantom equity with HELOC's and had themselves a pretty nifty pre-retirement consumer party too. Only way to afford retirement now is to drastically cut living expenses.
So, is a nice Coleman tent in the future for these groups, and more? I've gotta admit, there is a bit of romanticism with the idea of living off the land, setting up camp, getting off the grid and having no bills. There's some kind of perverse pleasure to be had I'm sure of getting rid of the $4,000 a month P&I payment, the condo association fees, the property taxes, the power bills, the cars, the credit cards and the weekly Home Depot trips.
Strip it down, most people slave away all day, work 50 hours a week, fight traffic, and kill themselves just to pay their bills and buy stuff. Get rid of the bills and the consumption, you can pretty much get rid of the job and the stress too, eh?
I hear they have tents now with separate rooms, and even built in solar powered lighting.
Maybe Bob Toll can come out with a McMansion Tent too... He's gotta do something, 'cause he ain't selling overpriced houses anymore....
September 23, 2006
Headin' for the hills: Will FBs, youth and others start communities of year-round tent campers?
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19 comments:
They'll be living in their cars or with their more fiscally conservative relatives, I suspect
They'll show up in your driveway in an old r.v. Kinda like Chevy Chase's brother in law, in the movie Europeon vacation.
Then what are you gonna do? I'll be that "renter" who will give them a little food and money, and hope they'll quietly go away. I think its going to be a little painful to watch whats comin.
Bob Toll cashed out his stocks at the peak, to the tune of 150 million, give or take a few. He doesn't need to build anything. But i think he should be in jail for doing it.
That post was placed there about 2 years ago. I bet the guy gave up after about a month. You gotta be crazy to try to live year-round in a tent...in Ontario of all places.
I have noticed the price for RV's have started to increase and they are sold in a couple of days. I've been looking for one, and I should have bought in the spring. I waited until now to get serious because prices usually go down in the late summer and fall. But not this year! I blame it on the crash and burn housing market!
For example a friend of mine just sold his way over price tract house in So. Cal. He pocketed about $500k, and put it into CD's at 5.5% range. He bought a nice looking 34 ft. RV and he is living like a gypsy. He lives on the beach now and is heading to the desert this winter. I have never seen he or his wife happier. He reminds me of a kid that has got all the cookies. So I think that there are a lot more HPers out there than one would think. He is the guy who told me about this blog too!
Geez keith, Put some of these post's in the archives once in awhile!! Downloading your site takes forever, and when I go to the comment section and then hit the "back" button, It redownloads everything all over again. Your site is the onlyone that does that.
And YES I still have dial-up, I'm saving my money for a house in 2010.
They have for years it's called, The Grateful Dead Tour!
If you haven't been reading any of it, there is thousands of people living on the beaches in Hawaii that have been priced out of the housing market and rental market. Some of it is perfectly legal, because you can get a pass for free camping each week. And with a year round temp of 78 degrees...
"Thousands of homeless live in tents on Hawaii's beaches"
http://tinyurl.com/omwoh
If you haven't been reading any of it, there is thousands of people living on the beaches in Hawaii that have been priced out of the housing market and rental market.
+++++++++++++++++
Good catch. I think we're going to be seeing a LOT more homelessness all over the country after the housing bubble finally disappears.
Pleanty of illegals living in tents and campers on BLM (federal) land here in western CO. When a ranger comes around they just say they're camping. Most aren't trouble-makers, they do honest work, but the HP crowd is going to be disappointed 'cause the best spots are already taken.
I pitched a tent this morning just before I woke up
I spent 1 month doing a southwest 5- state desert tour, camped out free on BML land, cooked on a portable whisperlite backpacker stove, slept inside my camper shell or pitched a tent, and visited 6 np's, 8 NM's, and only stayed in motels 3 nights. My average cost per day came out to about $25 , including fuel for my toyota pickup as i put in a lot of mileage doing a big grand tour thru the southwest. I could see the possibility of doing this tent camping life, living inside your camper/RV and camping out at assorted campsites all over the southwest/Cal. Cal has few desirable free BLM land to camp free in, and the average cost for a USDA national forest campsite runs around $10-$20/day in the Sierra Nevada rec areas. The daily cost to camp in Cal would be around $30-40/day for a regular pickup w/camper shell/more for RV's. IF you could include extended days backpacking in the wilds you could lower your costs per day substantially. So you could spend an entire year living the camp life at aroung $11,000 per year bare minimum, add several thousand dollars more for vehicle maintenace, dining out, occasional stays in motels. Add costs for health insurance , vehicle insurance and fees,credit card pmts,phone cards,car pmts if not already paid off, ect and you could live the nomadic life for $15,000-$20,000 per year.
Like others have said an RV would be better.
Living in a tent is a temporary solution. It's no fun living wihtout a bathroom and kitchen.
Washer Dryer, Toilet, Shower, Fridge, Stove, microwave, running water.
Besides being grimy and smelly, it's jsut not healthy living in dense populaitons without these 'conveniences'.
Don't romantisize living off the land. Having gone through survival school and being gratefull to be back in my room, i can tell you roughing it gets old in aobut a week.
Plus where are people going to go? Park rangers are tough on squaters. No the man want you in the system paying the bills and working like shills.
There could be a happy medium. Living a more frugal life in smaller houses built to last. working less.
But no one seems interested in that.
Think of them as CANVAS CONDO's - I'll sell you one for only $300K.
Just as predicted- many of the bitter, priced-out renters are now going to live in tent cities and Hondas. If only they would have listened to their realtor or their shrewd RE investor friends.
This has been happening around the ski areas for quite some time:
http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20060817/NEWS/108170076
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