I saw an article from BusinessWeek yesterday about “affordable global real estate” and I thought I’d share the link and my observations here.

In The Worlds Most Affordable Housing Markets, writer Maya Roney lays out where the smart money chooses to live based on an index of home prices, cost of goods and services, local stability and quality of life. Keep in mind that the article is from Business Week and explicitly uses a standard based on the needs of a youngish middle manager and his or her average sized household / family, or about — 4 bedrooms.

The top pick is Bogata, Columbia which I admit isn’t a place I normally think of as “stable” but if you enjoy tropical on a Canton Ohio budget there are probably worse places you can wind up in. Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt comes in at number two in affordability, and honestly — looks absolutely gorgeous with a cost of living comparable to Muncie, Indianna.

The top 10 including 3 rather cold but gorgeous locations in Canada, and both Nicaragua and Panama and the top 25 including locations in Malta, Poland and Honduras. Viva!

Each city is compared to a US Market to give the potential home buyer a reference point on which to base their explorations, and each location includes one color picture which is supposed to symbolize that particular environment. The pictures are very “stock” and the article runs over as many pages as possible no doubt to maximize their ad exposure and SEO. The navigation frame for the top 25 locations is easy to use, and that makes comparing the cost of a home in the Carribean to the cost of a similar home in Bozeman nearly painless.

The idea here is that real estate in the US may be flat, but the international market is still bullsih. There may be some truth to that, though for most non-retired folk, such a move might be problematic unless they had recently been offered employment in Cairo.

As for me I have decided to retire in Mexico; surf all morning, sleep all afternoon and play Troubadour all night long for rich touristas. Viva baby!

–Dex

It’s been almost 6 weeks since the accident, and my wife is still on high alert. She is still having lots of nightmares, and what I can only describe as flashbacks. Every interaction on the road leaps out at her like a high definition instant replay, in a thousand variations. She isn’t driving yet, and is seeing a therapist, who seems sincere. The therapist has her sitting behind the wheel of a safely parked vehicle, and doing breathing exercises, and that seems to help a bit, but it is a slow process. How can I describe to you what she is going through? I barely understand it myself. Her reptile brain has taken over, and she is in a constant state of agitation; the fight or flight reflex that for most comes only in small doses when really needed. For her it has come to stay and this heightened sense of alert magnifies her pain and keeps her in a shadowy half life that I am seemingly powerless to rescue her from. So as you can imagine I am constantly looking for ways to help her through this and get her “back on the horse” as they say.

To that end I discovered and recommended a kind of distraction that allows her to experience horrific car crashes in a safe and dare I say it? — “fun” setting. I turned her on to Grand Theft Auto 4. At first she was mortified by the violence of the car crashes in game, but over the course of a few hours she has definitely begin to enjoy it. I see a smile creep across her face that resembles my wife before the accident. She is learning to enjoy the interaction of twisted metal in first person, from the relative safety of the couch. I am thinking I may be on to something here.

It is probably to early to give a definite answer as we just started playing last night. She slept well though, and seemed to ride well today as we ran around town on several “real-life” errands. She is not behind the wheel herself yet, but the little changes are a welcome difference. She is still tense, to be sure. Tonight she leaned over to hug our daughter and turned her neck in an odd way that caused her to lock up — head and shoulders — for 20 – 30 minutes until we could massage the spasm out. I am certain that her pain was both real and distressing, but it seemed to pass quickly compared to previous days.

“One can only hope, and remain open to new ideas…” has become my only motto.

“Purchasing an original Case Study steel and glass home is the opportunity of a fortunate few” I am probably going to use either this one or Rocio romero’s in New Mexico one day. Pierre Koenig was an early proponent of a modern steel home. One organization, Modernist Modular Homes provides a variety of models for California and the desert / south west. After all, there are only a handful of old ones, so building one is the way to do it.

Pierre Koenig (October 17, 1925 – April 4, 2004) was an American architect.

Born in San Francisco, received his B.Arch. in 1952 from the University of Southern California, apprenticed under Raphael Soriano among others, and in private practice beginning in 1952, Koenig practiced mainly on the west coast and was most notable for the design of the Case Study Houses No. 21 and 22 in 1960 and other steel houses. Both 21 (the Bailey House) and 22 (the Stahl House) were constructed on dramatic, otherwise-unbuildable sites.

Pierre Koenig – Opens New Window

Steel Home Builder Site – Opens New Window

Convertible City – German Language Site

Hmmm – I wonder which strata councils / co-op boards would approve of this? It would give some people vertigo, but its a neat idea anyways.

Located between art and architecture, the backpack house is a walk-in sculpture with their own spatial quality: a floating, lighted room, as a temporary scaffolding and a “minimal sculpture” also appears. Universally used as a mini-backpack, this house adds extra space at the front of each residential building attached. The design consists of a welded steel cabin, using steel cables on the roof or on the facade of the existing house is attached. The sculpture consists of a cube-made element with the dimensions width 2.50 m, 2.50 m in height and 3.60 m deep. The height of the top floor of the cube element is approximately 10.50 m, and the total weight of the sculpture is approximately 2.0 t. In conclusion if you want an extra room for your apartment this might be a great idea to take in consideration.

For a while now I have been entranced with modern homes. I prefer a blend of hand made and wooden furniture that contrasts with the often stark austerity of the structures. I like the clean minimalism of modern structures. I like the way these structures can harmoniously blend into the landscape while offering large expansive views. They often can blend the boundary between outside and inside.

Anyways, about 5 years ago I was in New York City on business, and while I was walking through the city I happened to notice a gallery in SoHo that was showing some modern home displays. I went inside and learned about an architect, Rocio Romero, who is based in Missouri. I then began visiting her web site over and over.

When you order a home like this, you get a kit that comes on a truck. You need to prepare a site, have permits in place with a foundation or footings setup. She sells homes that can withstand 150 mile per hour winds, and that have minimal upkeep. I also like a home that is between 1000 and 2000 square feet. Huge homes are bad for the environment. I can see if someone lives with a large or extended family, but for me – the larger the home the more cleaning required. Her kits start at 45,000 or so. You can join them together for larger homes and she has some options as well. Its a really neat way to build a home. I do love a rustic post and beam home, stone or log home as well. I am not some fanatical modern absolutist.

Rocio Romero LLC is a multidisciplinary firm. We design, manufacture, build, ship, and sell our kit homes. By marrying all these disciplines we are able to better deliver quality design easily and affordably. It is through prefab efficiencies that we are able to control the cost and quality of our homes.

Rocio Romero is the owner and principal of Rocio Romero, LLC. Rocio received her Masters of Architecture from Southern California Institute of Architecture and her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Environmental Design with a major in Architecture from UC Berkeley.

Having been featured in many publications, including The New York Times, CBS Sunday Morning News, and the Wall Street Journal, the LV home was acknowledged by Paul Goldberger of The New Yorker as “an exceptionally beautiful house… Romero’s designs stand out for their clarity, simplicity, and grace”.

For more information on Rocio Romero, download her PDF biography

Rocio Romero LLC Web Site

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