I will preface this by saying this isn't going to be a big political rant, it's actually a little message about being grateful.

I was reading an article the other day, about housing in Steamboat Colorado. Many of the properties are being bought up by investors, and turned into short term rentals. It's gotten to the point where the workforce cannot afford the housing to stay in the community. Even a Doctor, bidding 1 million dollars on a home was over bid by $100,000, by someone who immediately turned the property into a short term rental, and started renting it out for $7,500 a month.

3.65 million dollars at 10% interest is $1000 a day.
36.5 million dollars at 10% interest is $10,000 a day.
365 million dollars at 10% interest is $100,000 a day.

People with that kind of money, can find 10% interest.

At the point where you're making $100,000 a day, in interest, I start to call that Monopoly Money. You can basically do whatever you want, whenever you want, and never really run out of money.

In my opinion, there are enough people with Monopoly Money, driving up the cost of all of the desirable properties and vacation destinations, that it becomes unaffordable for the average person, or at least nearly so.

If you don't agree, try renting a place to stay in the Florida Keys in March. You're lucky if you can find something for less than $400 a night.

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I am immensely thankful, that someone had the vision, to create the boundary waters canoe area wilderness. A place, where I can still have lake front property, for a week, or two, with an absolutely breath-taking view, for just $16.

Thank you.

I'd recommend switching to 8 lb test monofilament.

" Got no checkbooks, got no banks. Still I'd like to express my thanks: I've got the sun in the morning and the moon at night." Irving Berlin

You said there would be no math.

Many years ago Steve Jobs, owned a little company name Apple, was building a very weird and personalized multi-million-dollar home, people were going on about why anyone would do that. While driving to the BWCA a friend and I did the math and at his wealth level he was earning enough that it was paid for in a matter of a few days. He had no reason to even consider not doing whatever he wanted. Nice problem to have, it's hard to even comprehend the amount of wealth that many people have.

Agree grateful for what we have.

T

Completely agree. I got lucky with the housing market. We started looking for a home 3 years ago when our rental was sold and we were forced to start looking before we were ready and prices were skyrocketing. We 100% thought it was the worst time to buy at the time. We took a risk and used some 401K money to scrounge up a down payment, and ended up being very lucky with the timing. The only reason we were able to afford a home at all was the low interest rate. We closed right when the rates just started going back up.

At 37 years old, I am lucky to finally own a home to raise my kids in. My wife's sister was a few months after us in their housing search, in a pretty similar situation to us, and missed the window. The interest rates going back up made mortgage payments unaffordable for them. Even with the equity we've built in the last 2 1/2 years, I wouldn't be able to afford my own house in the current market.

So I am very thankful to be in the situation we are in now, and that the boundary waters is there to help us get a vacation that we otherwise couldn't afford.

Brainerd Lake area people buy a lake home worth 0.3-0.5 million dollars just for the lake lot, tear the home down, and put up a mansion they use for two weeks of the year. It happens more than you think. It has gone crazy north of Brainerd.
You have people like the CEO of Cargill etc.

It scares me where prices are going. At some point, 150 or 200 years ago, you could have picked a spot in Montana, and probably homesteaded for free. During my lifetime, there was probably still opportunities where I could have bought a piece of land at the edge of the mountains, and potentially could have afforded the loan. I think at this point those days are gone. The dream of having a 20 acre ranch in the mountains with a trout stream, have likely passed me.

Back in 1985 ish, I was a waiter at Red Lobster. There was a 1000 acres of hunting land for sale in northern mn for $80,000 ($80 an acre). There were 4 of us waiters that considered going in together to buy the land. We were in our 20s and couldn't afford it on our own.

But the interest rates were double digits, I think like 14%, and as waiters, you have some undeclared income, and not great credit scores, so was going to cost us even higher rates. While we could make it work as a 4-some, we just couldn't figure out how we would buy someone out, if they needed out. So we passed on the opportunity.

Well, now at at a couple thousand dollars an acre or more, there's no way I could afford a 1000 acres of hunting land. I'd have enough trouble buying a 100 acres.

My house in the twin cities would probably sell for $400k. I have a 15 year at 2.87% interest. I couldnt afford my own home if I was paying 7 percent. I was talking to a guy the other day that lives in Toronto, and he said there's been so much inflation, that my home would be work about 1.2 million there. I'm not sure how any new home buyers can afford that stuff.

My wife is a flight attendant, so we can fly for free anywhere Sun Country goes, and just for tax money, if we fly to Mexico, CostaRica etc. But it still cost us money when we get there, and the price of condos/hotels/rental cars/restaurants etc, are making many places unaffordable. More so in the US, than Mexico. i can still get an airbnb in Cancun for $75 a night. We wanted to go to the keys this year, but the prices are nuts. Someone was renting a tent on a floating raft for $100 a night. I guess that's fine if you're a college student on spring break.

Seems like if you want a place on the ocean in the U.S, it's $300 plus a night min. Renting hunting land is pricing me out of that too. I was talking to 4 guys who own land in buffalo county wisconsin, which is considered one of the best trophy deer hunting counties in the country. There were 7 guys from Florida that offered them $70,000 to lease their hunting land for the season, and they turned them down! That's crazy. Guys with Monopoly Money. (as a side note, the neighbor sold their farm, and the two guys that were renting that farm, came to these 4 guys and asked if they could hunt. The 4 guys let those 2 guys hunt for free for the weekend. You might ask yourself, why turn down 7 guys who want to pay $70,000, yet you let 2 guys hunt for free? One of those two guys was Brett Favre.

Regardless, I'm just very thankful I can still enjoy the beauty of the boundary waters, and have some entire lake all to myself, for $16. It's an incredible value.

Savage Voyageur: "You said there would be no math. "

Lol.

I am fortunate enough to be a homeowner for the last 49 years of 2 different houses. My first house cost $28,500 with 20 year mortgage for $17,000 at 8.5% (1975); the second and current house (a fixer-upper) cost $65,000 with a 20 year mortgage for $40,000 at 9.75% (1988). I refinanced that mortgage twice getting it down to 7.2% and I thought we had it made. Both my children are homeowners with mortgages of 3% and 5%, so we all very fortunate. I feel sorry for young people starting out now.

I too am thankful for all the public land available to me for low/no cost vacations. And even though Canada is a lot more expensive than the US for outdoor recreation, I still feel it is a bargain for what I get.

analyzer: "

Savage Voyageur: "You said there would be no math. "

Lol."

Username checks out.

I am grateful as well, for so many things. I forget who said it, but I recall a quote referring to public lands as the "working man's country estate." I grew up in the 90s on a lake and fished and hunted almost daily as a boy. My dad was a truck driver and my mother was a schoolteacher. Our neighbors were teachers, factory workers, UPS drivers, etc. The lake today is unrecognizable, and the new residents are certainly not teachers and truckers. All the personal and social benefits associated with fishing, camping, skiing, hunting, and paddling were available to anyone with a few dollars and an adventurous spirit. Today, it seems like experiencing nature is considered an expensive luxury.

I am one of the lucky few in the monopoly money bracket, on the bad side mine all came in the box with the game and the battleship....

I am one of the lucky few in the monopoly money bracket, on the bad side mine all came in the box with the game and the battleship....

nooneuno: "I am one of the lucky few in the monopoly money bracket, on the bad side mine all came in the box with the game and the battleship...."

Alright, that’s funny stuff right there.

@Pintree. Yup I know all about the Cargill lady that bought houses in Duluth and tore them down to build an estate home. She tore down one house across the street so she could have a nice sunset view. Really messed up world.

Tom

I don’t have a house yet. Lord willing, next year or two. That said I have a wonderful Savior, a wonderful wife, 2 wonderful little boys, two cars that run good and are paid for, a guitar and banjo that stay in tune, and no debt. Like John Anderson put it, “I got it made.”

Thanks for going to Iraq for 5 months, Dad. That’s why I can say this.

Oh, and my 94 Alumacraft Quetico. I wouldn’t trade it for a yacht. Ever. Unless the deal was that I would sell the yacht once I got it and buy the canoe back and keep the change.

Used to be, if you had Monopoly Money, it was considered very admirable to share it and to enrich the world. I'm thinking of the Carnegies, the Rockefellers, and the James J. Hill's of the past. Now a days, it just seems like there is a contest to plant flags and say you are the first to Mars with the monopoly money some people have.

I am grateful for places like the BWCA, but even more so for other places like Minnesota's state park system, or Minnesota's state forests and the hidden gems of campground scattered throughout. Minnesota's trail systems, and Superior Hiking Trial are unique and should be cherished. Even the care given to the fishery systems that continue to restock lakes in the area is a unheralded benefit to the area I live in. All the WMA's and SNA's, like the Lost 40, are all places that I can explore, camp, hunt, fish, without needing monopoly money, and I really like that.

It's not all monopoly money and vrbo etc., at least where I am in the Wisconsin north woods. The pandemic-driven WFH dynamic seems to be here to stay, and the rural broadband initiative of the last couple of years has brought 1gig speeds deep into lake country, thus facilitating WFH. It used to be that I could look across the lake on a winter's night and see maybe one house light, or even no lights at all. Now the shoreline is dotted with lighted and occupied homes in winter, and you have to assume that's because the owners are now able to work from home, or most likely in this case their 2nd home.

I prefer when rich people spend their money as opposed to hoarding it. Money that is spent gets to touch and bring value to many hands. Money that sits in banks touches very few, if any, hands. Money moving around is what drives an economic market.

eagleriverwalleye: "It's not all monopoly money and vrbo etc., at least where I am in the Wisconsin north woods. The pandemic-driven WFH dynamic seems to be here to stay, and the rural broadband initiative of the last couple of years has brought 1gig speeds deep into lake country, thus facilitating WFH. It used to be that I could look across the lake on a winter's night and see maybe one house light, or even no lights at all. Now the shoreline is dotted with lighted and occupied homes in winter, and you have to assume that's because the owners are now able to work from home, or most likely in this case their 2nd home."

That's a great point.

One of my coworkers hasn't stepped foot in the office in 3 years. They bought a cabin up in Hinckley and she works from home. I thought it was probably the show yellowstone that was driving alot of the land purchases in Montana, but perhaps it has alot to do with remote work as well.

I work from home. My wife laughs at me, because sometimes I never change out of my pajamas. I call it a PIMP day (proposals in my pajamas). However, "PIMP" doesn't really have the right sales ring to it. I need to have PITCH days. That sounds more like a sales slogan. "Proposals in the Caribbean Hut". Lol.

I don't really want cell coverage in the bwca. I cherish when my wife shuts her phone off, a few hundred yards up the gunflint trail. But I guess if it meant I could work from the GFT. That wouldnt be so bad.

Minnesotian: "

I am grateful for places like the BWCA, but even more so for other places like Minnesota's state park system, or Minnesota's state forests and the hidden gems of campground scattered throughout. Minnesota's trail systems, and Superior Hiking Trial are unique and should be cherished. Even the care given to the fishery systems that continue to restock lakes in the area is a unheralded benefit to the area I live in. All the WMA's and SNA's, like the Lost 40, are all places that I can explore, camp, hunt, fish, without needing monopoly money, and I really like that.
"

When my wife and I went to Costa Rica, we discovered about 60% of CR is nature preserve. It's nice to know no matter how bought up everything gets, there will still be places we can go to see the natural beauty of the world.

analyzer: "...I was reading an article the other day, about housing in Steamboat Colorado... It's gotten to the point where the workforce cannot afford the housing to stay in the community...."

Yes it is nuts in those places. (Even in MN and surrounding areas.) I just returned from a trip to Breckenridge, CO where I attended an adaptive ski program. The non profit that runs it has converted a warehouse in the area to small apartments so the staff has a place to stay. Talking to the staff some have been able to find a house to rent with 5-6 others with 2-3 sharing a room. Most hold down 2 jobs to be able to stay there.

On a similar note (dating me a bit) I bought my house for $30K in 1975 with a 7.5% VA mortgage. It's paid for and I'm still in it and the city says it's worth $350k!! I can't afford to move with anything I look at in the area is $400k to $500k.