Here’s a great question from Catherine:
How on earth do you do this with limited time and very limited financial options? To me, that is the ultimate question. If you are starting from scratch, and young, it would be much easier. However, in your late fifties trying to pay off a mortgage with limited resources and still attempt to do the above on very limited time seems to be unfeasible.
You are right Catherine.
It is much easier to build a resilient home if you start early in life. You haven’t made the big choices, like buying a home, yet. You still have time to incorporate resilience thinking into your decision making.
Unfortunately, few people over the age of forty have purchased their homes with resilience in mind. Instead, the goal was building up equity in a home. If you are like most people, you likely bought your current home based on the quality of:
- the school district,
- the commute distance, and
- the amenities the home offers (frills).
However, given that these factors are of little use in a perpetually stagnant or declining housing market, you may want to rethink how you value your home. Due to the ongoing economic collapse of the middle class across the developed world, we’re unlikely to see any meaningful increase in values according to these old metrics ever again.
So, if that’s the case, and you do have some equity built up, it may be time to sell this home, and trade into a home with resilience as the primary consideration.
Some factors to use in your decision making process:
- Mortgage reduction/elimination.
- More land. Better land (solar access).
- Better community. Short distance to community centers.
- Good town/county tax to service ratio….
In general, the goal is to find a home that has the potential to become a productive asset rather than a place to store your stuff.
A place that can to pay for itself.
Sincerely,
JOHN ROBB
