4 ms·

I just agreed to buy a house. It's very cheap. It's very small and strange, so thankfully banks wouldn't give a mortgage on it. It was built around 1800, most

I just agreed to buy a house. It's very cheap. It's very small and strange, so thankfully banks wouldn't give a mortgage on it. It was built around 1800, most likely when several people nearby got together and gathered a lot of stones to erect walls, and peat from a nearby bog and oat straw (which was grown locally) to make a roof. Over the subsequent hundred years it had a couple rooms added until it reached its current form. The original owner almost certainly had no mortgage. How did they do it? Why can't I just gather materials and build my own house? Is it because of the inclosure acts? I'm not sure. It's also possible the house was owned by a wealthy local and used as housing for farm labour. I suspect a lot of people _need_ mortgages purely because mortgages exist, so you're going to be competing against others who have them. It's slightly reminiscent of the two income trap. When a household wanted a home in the 1950's, they usually were competing with other single-income households. Once two-income households became normal, it was much more difficult for single-income households to compete. Though this all still seems to relate to there being fewer houses than people would like to own.

HeyLaughingBoy 8y ago
Why can't I just gather materials and build my own house? In the US, you certainly can, as long as you use approved materials and get the necessary permits and inspections. If you want to fell trees and gather rocks to build your home, you can also do that, but it becomes much harder to get it registered as a homestead. In either case (assuming you are living outside city limits), you will probably need an approved septic plan. You can build something that doesn't meet the local building codes, but it may be difficult or impossible to sell it later.
djrobstep 8y ago
> Why can't I just gather materials and build my own house? Indeed. This is why discussion of "supply" misses the point. - Many people would quite happily build their own house in the middle of Central Park. But they cannot, because government intervention prevents them. - Many homeless people would happily sleep in unused climate-controlled office buildings at night, but cannot, because government intervention prevents them. - Many people would happily live outside of cities, but can't for financial reasons (effectively, the government coerces them via property law, into moving into cities to do work). Supply is not the issue. There's plenty of supply already existing or easily created. The issue is that people are violently prevented from using it.
- titanomachy 8y ago
  Are you suggesting that anyone who wants to should be permitted to build a house in Central Park? And that the "government" is unreasonable for preventing them from doing so?
  - djrobstep 8y ago
    No, I'm saying that the problem isn't "supply", but that access to existing supply is violently (and unevenly) restricted. I'm interested in why you put government in quote marks. Do the cops who prevent people engaging in construction in Central Park not work for the government?
    - CalRobert 8y ago
      Indeed. The descendants of people who occupied central park ca. 1600 might have thoughts on that.
      - masonic 8y ago
        Central Park didn't exist until 1857.
        CalRobert 8y ago
        The land which became central park did.
        masonic 8y ago
        Who are you suggesting lived there in 1600?
        CalRobert 8y ago
        The Wappinger confederacy most likely.
  - 8y ago

HeyLaughingBoy 8y ago

Why can't I just gather materials and build my own house? In the US, you certainly can, as long as you use approved materials and get the necessary permits and inspections. If you want to fell trees and gather rocks to build your home, you can also do that, but it becomes much harder to get it registered as a homestead. In either case (assuming you are living outside city limits), you will probably need an approved septic plan. You can build something that doesn't meet the local building codes, but it may be difficult or impossible to sell it later.

djrobstep 8y ago

> Why can't I just gather materials and build my own house? Indeed. This is why discussion of "supply" misses the point. - Many people would quite happily build their own house in the middle of Central Park. But they cannot, because government intervention prevents them. - Many homeless people would happily sleep in unused climate-controlled office buildings at night, but cannot, because government intervention prevents them. - Many people would happily live outside of cities, but can't for financial reasons (effectively, the government coerces them via property law, into moving into cities to do work). Supply is not the issue. There's plenty of supply already existing or easily created. The issue is that people are violently prevented from using it.

titanomachy 8y ago
Are you suggesting that anyone who wants to should be permitted to build a house in Central Park? And that the "government" is unreasonable for preventing them from doing so?
- djrobstep 8y ago
  No, I'm saying that the problem isn't "supply", but that access to existing supply is violently (and unevenly) restricted. I'm interested in why you put government in quote marks. Do the cops who prevent people engaging in construction in Central Park not work for the government?
  - CalRobert 8y ago
    Indeed. The descendants of people who occupied central park ca. 1600 might have thoughts on that.
    - masonic 8y ago
      Central Park didn't exist until 1857.
      - CalRobert 8y ago
        The land which became central park did.
        masonic 8y ago
        Who are you suggesting lived there in 1600?
        CalRobert 8y ago
        The Wappinger confederacy most likely.
- 8y ago