Me bride ran across this old ad for a listed house that my MIL bought (for the penciled in amount) in the early '50's. After she died a couple of years ago, her kids sold it for $250,000......with no significant modifications.....the old oil burning stove had gone away, the carpet and roofing had been replaced, but no increase in square footage or other remodel work was ever done......Oh, ok, paint, but that's it. These were all concrete block constuction.

As I recall, my folks' first house, bought in 1956, was about $17K, for which they got a 30 year loan. Heck, our boat was almost that much and we'll pay it off in 5 or 6.

Not much....

Chart

Cool Chart!

When I was doing the remodel I found a 1918 Oregonian stuffed under one of the sash windows. 3500$ bought a nine room house overlooking the Willamette or a 10 acre farm on the outskirts.

My folks were looking at new homes in the early 60s. Most were in the $17,000 range. Too high my dad kept saying. But as a journeyman in the shipyard he was earning about $3,000 a year.

First house was 14k and was working for 7 an hour.

I remodeled a 1907 and found some newspapers from then in the wall. Seattle Times mostly, and the prices on things are really interesting, of course everything is relative, but still interesting.

What most people don't realize, and the chart points out, is that your houses, a barrel of crude oil, etc. don't appreciate. Rather, the USD has steadily declined in purchasing power since 1913. The trajectory of the USD toward its intended target is getting more apparent....

At a minimum, read pg. 3, "What Makes Money Valuable?"

LINK

Being in and around the real estate indsutry, I've looked at a lot of old document copies. In Kitsap County, an 1884 mortgage for $100 at 1% interest per month was secured by an 87 acre waterfront parcel. Typically, interest rates on real property are per year rather than per month. The effective per year interest rate would be more than 12%. Decent return for an investor.

There is a wisdom to the words of stamfucius.....

The converse is also true. An item is worth only what someone else is willing to pay for it.

It's not overpriced if someone paid for it.

Can't quite agree. Money in the bank often gives you leverage to negotiate a
better deal.

Money in the hand is best.

no Argument. However, I don't mind a bit of wealth. Then again Rich can
go hiss up a rope. Money in the bank is not a bad thing. 'Til the bank says
" it's mine."

My Pop once told me whoever said money can not buy happiness was not a poor man as it is better to be miserable rich than miserable poor!

Money can set your free.
But the pursuit of money is slavery.

A $1 bill can get a couple twirling tassles close enough to me that I can slip it in that little g-string of a "performer" up in Canuck territory... Gotta love 'Merica, I mean Canada!


5 of those bills and I might even get a smile.

So you look at her face?