Check out this excerpt from the New York Times. It's about a family in Austin that is bucking the growing trend of materialism and going to live simply.
By RALPH BLUMENTHAL and RACHEL MOSTELLER
AUSTIN, Tex. — Like many other young couples, Aimee and Jeff Harris spent the first years of their marriage eagerly accumulating stuff: cars, furniture, clothes, appliances and, after a son and a daughter came along, toys, toys, toys.
Now they are trying to get rid of it all, down to their fancy wedding bands. Chasing a utopian vision of a self-sustaining life on the land as partisans of a movement some call voluntary simplicity, they are donating virtually all their possessions to charity and hitting the road at the end of May.
“It’s amazing the amount of things a family can acquire,” said Mrs. Harris, 28, attributing their good life to “the ridiculous amount of money” her husband earned as a computer network engineer in this early Wi-Fi mecca.
The Harrises now hope to end up as organic homesteaders in Vermont.
“We’re not attached to any outcome,” said Mrs. Harris, a would-be doctor before dropping out of college, who grew up poverty-stricken in a family that traces its lineage back through the Delanos and President Franklin D. Roosevelt to a Mayflower settler, Isaac Allerton.
Mr. Harris, 30, who dropped out of high school and “rode the Internet wave,” agreed, saying they were “letting the universe take us for a ride.”
They are not alone.
Matt and Sara Janssen, who traded down from their house in Iowa to a studio apartment in Montana and finally an R.V. powered by vegetable oil, now crisscross the country with their 4-year-old daughter, highway nomads living on $1,500 a month.
Not that simplicity need be that spartan. Cindy Wallach and her husband, Doug Vibbert, of Annapolis, Md., moved out of their apartment with an “everything must go” party and, along with their 3-year-old son, now sail and make their home on a 44-by-24-foot catamaran.
“We never wanted four walls and beige carpet,” Ms. Wallach said.
Though it may not be the stuff of the typical American dream, the voluntary simplicity movement, which traces its inception to 1980s Seattle, is drawing a great deal of renewed interest, some experts say.
“If you think about some of the shifts we’re having economically — shifts in oil and energy — it may be the right time,” said Mary E. Grigsby, associate professor of rural sociology at the University of Missouri and the author of “Buying Time and Getting By: The Voluntary Simplicity Movement.”
“The idea in the movement was ‘everything you own owns you,’ ” said Dr. Grigsby, who sees roots of the philosophy in the lives of the Puritans. “You have to care for it, store it. It becomes an appendage, I think. If it enhances your life and helps you do the things you want to do, great. If you are burdened by these things and they become the center of what you have to do to live, is that really positive?”
Juliet B. Schor, a sociology professor at Boston College and author of “The Overspent American,” said the modern “downshifters,” as she called them, owed debts to the hippies and the travel romance of Jack Kerouac.
“Their previous lives have become too stressful,” Dr. Schor said. “They have a lack of meaning because their jobs are too demanding.”
Mrs. Harris, who with her husband home-schools their son, Quinn, 5, and plans to do the same with their 15-month-old daughter, Nichola, agreed that there was something of the hippies in their quest: “the ideals, the peace and love, the giving and freedom.”
But she said they had no tolerance for idleness or drugs. “Any state that can be induced by drugs, the mind and body are already capable of,” she said.
I read this today and I was totally taken by the fact that the Harris family is going from a relatively normal lifestyle to a simpler, healthier one.
You can read the full article and view photos of the Harris family at the New York Times website. The Harris family is also keeping a blog at www.cagefreefamily.com. I wrote another post about my admiration for the family here.
If you wish them well, you should give them a note of support. What they are doing must be exhilarating and scary at the same time.
Have a good one.
Joe
Affinity Properties, Austin Realtors | Selling Austin Real Estate
I have sold some multifamily properties in the Austin area and love apartments as investments for the most part. After all everyone needs a place to live and not everyone wants to be tied down with a house. When I saw this news clip come across my email I was pretty shocked given the apartment outlook for the area. As you can see, someone already snapped up 9 of the properties.
Now is certainly the time to buy at a decent price with the economy being semi-distressed and the folks who are cash poor needing to become more liquid. I'm not sure that is the case with Equity residential, but having been through a few downturns it wouldn't suprise me if this was a liquidity move or a focusing on core competencies move by the company.
Happy investing!
Joe
Shepherd Mountain Real Estate | Marina Village at Lakeway Homes and Condos
Below is an excerpt from the article. You can read the full story at the American Statesman site.
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, May 09, 2008
Equity Residential, the nation's largest publicly traded owner and operator of multifamily housing, is pulling out of Texas and selling its entire Austin apartment portfolio, totaling nearly 3,000 units.
Marty McKenna, a spokesman for Chicago-based Equity, said the firm is leaving because it has "been investing in markets that have better long-term prospects," primarily on the East and West coasts. He did not elaborate.
Although McKenna would not discuss details of the Austin sales, GlobeSt.com, a real estate news site, reported that an unidentified buyer has a contract on the Central Texas properties. They include the Madison at the Arboretum and River Stone Ranch, in addition to seven other properties in Northwest Hills, far North Austin and Southwest Austin.
Equity has sold its Houston portfolio, and a pullout from Texas would mean sales of 17 properties in the Dallas area and two in San Antonio.
Equity's multifamily properties in Austin averaged 96 percent occupancy for the first quarter, above the average local occupancy of 93 percent, according to data collected by Austin Investor Interests LLC, which tracks and forecasts the apartment market.
The nine properties are Class B and were built between 1984 and 1997, with an average of 849 square feet and an average monthly rent of $841.
Sales of multifamily properties in the Austin area are on the rise. About 30 percent of the multifamily inventory in the area has changed ownership in the past two years, said Robin Davis, president of Austin Investor Interests.
Continued at the AAS website.
Last night around 12:20am a huge storm rolled over my house and through west austin - central austin - and out of town through east austin. I got some photos of the damage at my place. It was no fun, but at least no one was hurt.
Joe
2+ inch piece of hail that I picked up from the garage.
Neighbor's tree took out my fence.
Another of my neighblor's trees and part of the fence taken out.
Joe
Cat Mountain TX Homes MLS Search | Lakewood Real Estate and Cat Mountain Real Estate
I wanted to help get the word out about this so I'm posting the email I got from TREPAC. I already sent emails to the city council. I encourage all Austin homeowners and agents to do the same if you have not already. You can check out the site at http://www.keepaustinaffordable.com
In doing research on the potential effects of this odrinance I'm curious if any other areas around the country have had this sort of forced upgrade at the threat of not being allowed to sell your home. Please send me any info that you have. I would greatly appreciate it!
Joe
Joe Cline works in Austin Texas Real Estate. If you are looking to buy, sell, or lease Austin Real Estate, it would be my pleasure to help. I also work selling Lakeway Real Estate.
-------------------
Dear Austin Realtor
Keep Austin Affordable
The Austin Board of REALTORS needs you to answer this Call for Action to allow your voice to be heard to protect your business and Austin homeowners.
Mayor Will Wynn is pushing the Austin City Council to consider a proposal that would require homeowners to upgrade or retrofit their homes with energy efficient features before they can sell it. We support energy efficiency, but we oppose the draft ordinance being developed because it will limit homeownership opportunities for many Austinites.
Please click on Take Action below to let Austin Mayor Will Wynn know that you support the Austin Board of REALTORS®' alternative solutions for achieving energy efficiency. ABOR proposes the following measures as a more efficient and effective solution to energy efficiency:
Support free energy audits in all Austin homes and include that information in ABOR's Seller's Disclosure Notice to allow the market to adapt to the "value" of energy efficiency in homes.
Expand the incentives for homeowners who voluntarily make upgrades to their homes by offering annual homestead exemptions and sales tax relief on items related to those upgrades.
Allow the 9000+ members of ABOR to act as educators who encourage homeowners to take advantage of the many programs Austin Energy already has in place.
Let your voice be heard at City Hall, click now on Take Action to tell Mayor Will Wynn there is a more efficient and effective solution to make Austin homes energy efficiency!
Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this.
We encourage you to take action by June 4, 2008
Keep Austin Affordable
Prospective buyers in the San Antonio area have access to a new condominium development that will begin construction in April of 2009. The Palmilla at Port Aransas will be a waterfront community, overlooking the Corpus Christi Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. These luxury condos will feature floor plans ranging from 1600 to 3000 square feet, with prices starting in the $400,000 market. The project will include a total of 94 units, as well as amenities such as a fitness center, event rooms, Internet café, and a community pool. Sales have already begun, with units having already been sold.
Developers state that the natural beauty of the property on which the development will be situated was the inspiration for the design of the community. Features and amenities will include a private marina with boat slips for the use of the condo owners. There will also be a mile long bulkhead, stretching along the edge of the bay, with several floating docks. Future plans include a private golf course and other features that will add to the spectacular views.
The project is being developed by the firm of Koontz McCombs, which has been developing real estate in the San Antonio area since 1997. Their hopes are that these luxury condominiums will draw a variety of new owners from around the region. The plans are already being compared to a number of luxury developments of a similar stature along the Caribbean and Gulf Coast regions. Currently, the plans for the project are unrivaled within the San Antonio area. Total completion of the projects and all included condominiums are expected sometime in the summer of 2010.
Happu Condo Hunting!
Joe
Joe Cline works in Austin Texas Real Estate. If you are looking to buy, sell, or lease Austin Real Estate, it would be my pleasure to help.
REMAX Austin is a small office of experienced agents. We work Austin and surrounding areas, but specialize in the 360 and 620 corridors.
ActiveRain Corp. is not responsible for the accuracy of the site's content (which is written by members of the ActiveRain Real Estate Network) and does not endorse the views of the real estate agents, mortgage brokers, and others listed here.
Powered by the ActiveRain Real Estate Network
© 2009 ActiveRain Corp. All Rights Reserved
