My path to early retirement with no savings

Dezdura · Post by **Dezdura** » Sun Jun 10, 2012 5:01 pm

My Introduction
My name is Katy and I am 53.
For quite a long time, I was a very unhappy slave of a low paying job-- a slave due to a mortgage and hospital debt which sucked every last dime from me. After losing my job and house soon after an expensive broken leg(in 2008) and going underground, I learned survival skills like how to eat healthy food for pennies per day, and now am emerging to live a different kind of lifestyle. I am highly influenced by the "green," tiny house, DYI, freegan, self sufficiency bunch.
I have been reading many of these posts, and what I have seen has been that the main issue that leads to job-slavery is the mortgage. That's what I have found. It costs money to work. I paid for 7 years, and got just a fraction of what I owed taken care of. Although I think that renting is better for some people, to live debt free, I feel you need to own your "parking space."
I have devised a way to pay for a small place with no savings (now) in about a year-- maybe 24 months. I forsee a small house less than 1000 sqf. (A fixer-upper).
How does a 53 year old, single woman with no assets or savings and no retirement, and no husband, or second income, save enough to buy a house within 24 months? I got my CDL, and will be driving a truck. This is a good paying job. I will make better money than I have ever made in my life, and keep my expenditures down to the lowest level possible. With good planning I hope to save 20K per year.
That is the experiment I am about to plunge into at the end of July. I have already lain the groundwork. I have researched where to find good houses for 20K and under, some as cheap as 12 to 15K. I have found a means of making good money while living anywhere I want, whether in a city or in the country.
I've also learned to live on as little as 5 to 7 K per year. I eat vegan food, mainly grains and fresh vegetables. This is also a wellness issue. I mainly cook in a small rice cooker. using very little electricity.
I am highly anti-consumer. I was never much of a shopper. I find good quality things and buy them cheaply-- or find them.
After my tiny little 15-20K house is mine, I will move to part time work, and still make a decent paycheck while working less hours, and enjoying my life more. Perhaps 3 nights per week driving, I can make between 15-20K per year.
I will consider myself partially retired at that time, and work on my writing and art.
I have found a lot of interesting topics on this forum already-- and would also like to start a blog following my journey to early retirement/financial independence.
Katy

chenda · Post by **chenda** » Sun Jun 10, 2012 6:43 pm

Welcome, sounds like a great plan, look forward to reading your blog.

tylerrr · Post by **tylerrr** » Sun Jun 10, 2012 9:14 pm

what areas are you looking at with houses that cheap?

tylerrr · Post by **tylerrr** » Sun Jun 10, 2012 9:30 pm

what areas are you looking at with houses that cheap?

Dragline · Post by **Dragline** » Sun Jun 10, 2012 9:34 pm

Good for you! We will look forward to reading your posts.

Dezdura · Post by **Dezdura** » Sun Jun 10, 2012 10:22 pm

Hi tylerrr, what areas are you looking at with houses that cheap?
I find them in Kansas, Missouri, Detroit, I've looked all over. I do not mind living in these areas of the country. You need to find an area close enough to a city to be able to find work as needed, and also get supplies and so on. I am not a total "country" person.
I've watched craigslist for 2 years looking for a pattern, and have seen that it is around Christmas that the majority of houses like this seem to go up for resale. I have a theory that people who bought them as investment properties are trying to get rid of them before the tax is due. (When you buy them be prepared to pay the tax right away).

djc · Post by **djc** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 4:09 am

Heres a beautiful home for $30,000 in move-in condition:
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhom ... 5690-37146
djc

jb · Post by jb » Tue Jun 19, 2012 12:29 pm

Is that house in a war zone or something? £20k would barely buy a beach hut in the UK

secretwealth · Post by **secretwealth** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 2:00 pm

Welcome to the subprime mortgage crisis, jb.

djc · Post by **djc** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 4:09 pm

@jb,
Heck no!, I'm very familiar with that neighborhood and its very nice. Its not an elite neighborhood but there are professionals as well as working class people living there. There is a glut of homes that have been foreclosed on as NE Ohio transitions from a manufacturing base to a service economy. There are oodles of people buying these homes mortgage free.
I've said it all along---get away from the coasts and move to the Great Lakes region.
djc

Hoplite · Post by **Hoplite** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 5:04 pm

I think @djc has provided a great alternative to Kansas, Missouri or Detroit for inexpensive livable housing. There are many listings in the Ashtabula county area that fit the bill outlined by @Dezdura (Katy), including fixer uppers at or below $15,000:
http://www.trulia.com/OH/Ashtabula/
Although not as critical as housing, especially given the OP's situation, a quick search on ehealthinsurance showed a lot of HDHP policies available at relatively low rates (under $200/mo.) for a 53 year old.

aussierogue · Post by **aussierogue** » Wed Jun 20, 2012 2:50 am

For all the doom and gloom over there in the states - these cheap but amazing houses must present a massive opportunity for those young enuf not to have debt but old enough to have a steady job. In 10 years time we will see a generation of young amercians with stable jobs, nice large houses and no housing debt to pay....
that to me is an amzing opportunity for anyone with a good stable job.
One thing that really sticks out amongst some of the figues coming out of the USA is the still relatively high income per capita. But what also sticks out is the relatively low lnet worth. They are almost the same. So one years salary is currently close to the average americans total net worth..
Should take the prudent middle class person with a stable job to be 'average within 3-4 years and well above average after 10. And by this i do not mean ERE.

Chad · Post by **Chad** » Wed Jun 20, 2012 2:08 pm

The problem is finding a decent job in the cheap housing areas. And, in most of those areas the cities are literally dying off. Lots of old people.

djc · Post by **djc** » Thu Jun 21, 2012 1:05 am

The best thing about Ashtabula is its on Lake Erie with a preponderance of parks, etc. Cleveland and Erie are less than an hour away with some of the best medical care in the world. Ashtabula is coming out of this Depression, and believe me, its been a Depression, with pretty good job growth but is dealing with low self esteem. What was once "The best location in the nation" is now fighting to regain its past glory.
There is an Art Center (which has sent a student on to Julliard and a professional ballet career), a beautiful YMCA and a historical Harbor which was once one of the largest ports in the world that is rapidly gentrifying. Its also the hometown of Urban Meyer who says only good things about growing up here.
Twentysomethings would be really wise to gobble up a nice house and be debtfree/mortgage free by 30.
http://starbeacon.com/local/x1426062098 ... mbers-grow
djc

Dezdura · Post by **Dezdura** » Wed Jun 27, 2012 4:31 pm

Thanks for the info on Ashtabula. I will look into it. I am not a fan of cold weather, and find that the cost of winter heating sometimes eats up any savings you might have had. I was thinking of KC because it is a few degrees warmer than where I am now. (Nebraska). In the end, it does not matter where I end up living, because I am only looking at cities that I would be interested in (not Florida).
Yes! There are cheap houses -- good, sturdy brick or wood houses-- sometimes they do need a bit of work due to neglect. Having a cost free place to live is paramount to debt free living. I am sure I will need to have some work done on each, put in a new furnace, and a few more things.
As far as "a job." I am an artist, and also have a CDL-A driver's license. The art is a "home" business with an average profit of 500$ to 1000$ per month (after overhead and gallery fees). It is uneven money, but good. I've made $5000.00 occasionally. It pleases me, and is the love of my life. I don't really consider it work, but it does consume resources, so I must sell it.
The truck driving can lead me to various part time, seasonal, or temporary work as well, and it pays very well for what it is.
Well, I will go and look at those houses. Thank you for the replies.
I prefer to live in a large city because the available services do not exist in more rural areas.

cloudeleven · Post by **cloudeleven** » Sun Jul 01, 2012 11:57 pm

Can anyone estimate how much property taxes, homeowners insurance, and maintenance would cost annually for that $30,000 home in Ashtabula, OH? Here's the link again:
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhom ... 5690-37146

djc · Post by **djc** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 12:47 am

i'm guessing $400 annually for prop ins, re taxes probably $800 annually and maint probably $1000 a year.
djc

Grasshopper escapement · Mon Jul 02, 2012 2:06 am

The Great Lakes region is one of the best kept secrets in the United States. Houses here are laughably inexpensive, and were relative to the rest of the country even before the Crash. I bought a Century Home on three acres of land a little over a decade ago for a pittance and have enjoyed fixing it up to my wife's liking. I have an old tractor (it came with the house!) and get to play farmer! We paid off the mortgage a couple of years ago. My raised bed garden is about a thousand square feet and gives us lots of delicious food for very little work or money. The kids and I do the gardening and my wife cooks the results, sort of like the Waltons. We had home grown squash and salad greens with dinner tonight and the last of the strawberries on shortcake for desert. The blueberries and raspberries are now ripening as well. Sweet corn and tomatoes will begin in a few more weeks.
We have commutes to our teaching jobs of less than a half hour through some of the most beautiful country anywhere... Honestly, it's like driving though a park every day, and I haven't had to sit in traffic, or even been on a freeway, since we moved here. (Yeah, we both still work, though with the house paid for we bank about 80% of our take home pay.)
The cultural treasures of Cleveland, and there are LOTS of them, are only about 45 minutes away. Cleveland has a world-class orchestra and we have season tickets. There are several other great museums (that we get into free because we are teachers).
Winters are cold and snowy (well, until this last one), so we have taken up Winter sports... there's free hiking and cross country skiing in the Metroparks. Summers tend to be mild, with daytime temps in the 70s and low 80s and nights in the 50s. Most people here don't bother installing AC, what with the daily breezes off of Lake Erie.
I grew up outside of Kansas City and would not want to go back to the summer heat and humidity or the constant huddling in the basement waiting for the tornados to blow past.
So, long story short, please do give this area some consideration!
Mr. GE

cloudeleven · Post by **cloudeleven** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 2:06 am

Maintenance only $1000 a year for a 2 story house built in 1920? I would expect it to have all kinds of maintenance problems...I was thinking around $3000-4000 a year just for maintenance, not including pest problems (spiders, etc.) that an old house like that will probably have.

irukandjisting · Post by **irukandjisting** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 2:09 am

lol.... @ spiders !!!