Sick to death of living in Wash. DC metro area with a perpetual feeling of going nowhere. I am supposed to be grateful because "I have a job" but somehow I am not, I want something more than that.
First, the RE prices are exorbitant, I don't see how I will *ever* afford real estate without going into major debt for decades, something that is against my "religion". I suppose I could but I don't really want to, or have to. I have zero debt at the moment.
Second, the 9-5 thing doesn't really appeal to me for the rest of my life. Many reasons for that, the latest straw is my 2 year old - I am not spending as much time with him as I would like. Daycare, etc. don't appeal to me. I feel like I am being penny wise and pound foolish.
Third, the climate. Having lived in the South for so long I still cannot adjust to the weather. Just too hot and humid for me in the summer. And I like real winter with real snow that doesn't melt.
I want to get a few acres, get out of the rental slavery which is bleeding me heavily, build a house to my specs. I found a great contractor who can give me great prices. I feel that being in my 30's I am ready for this change and ready to build something permanent instead of moving every few years. (Which too has some benefits vs. being owned by a house). Just to reiterate, we are in the middle of a major Depression with no sign of it ending. So the issue here is building some kind of shelter to withstand a financial hit. Plainly put, if I lose this FTE engagement I have, I will go down like Titanic or faster. I have no plan B, no alternatives. Just no idea what to do.
After interacting with people living in rural areas I noticed that many of them don't have any 'money' but own property. Maybe it's an illusion but even those who work for min wage have more assets and a higher quality of life than I do. I am on this treadmill, working as hard as I can just to keep my head above the water. I don't even feel like middle class anymore. You need to make way more than 100K in major metro areas to even consider buying a house and that cannot happen even theoretically.
I want to move to some northestern place, rural or semi-rural, maybe Vermont or NH and telecommute.
The whole project hinges on the ability to bring in 'money' from the outside. I assume the local economy has no jobs. Working at Home Depot for 9 bucks an hour won't make ends meet - anywhere.
I also have a feeling I am setting myself up for a major catastrophy as I have little experience with marketing. It seems the whole thing depends on marketing and the ability to find new projects and I am mediocre at best. I am also painfully aware that a job that can be outsourced to Vermont for 25 tokens/hour can be outsourced to you-know-where for even less.
What's not encouraging is talking to people who have BTDT and they ultimately could not make it work and came back to the cubicle world. I just cannot believe this is damned if you do and damned if you don't situation. Whatever change happens, it needs to encompass a lot more than the financial bottom line. Time is also a commodity.
