Jillian Ada Burrows

github down, new ideas rise

Our economy is quickly splitting into two. The haves and the have-nots. A friend wants to develop his grandparent's land in UT. Spending some time on the numbers, it's evident that only two products will work. Here is a breakdown of the two products. I either need very dense and small homes or very large estate lots with 5000+ sq ft homes. Anything in between doesn't pencil. The middle class, over the last 10 years, has slowly been priced out of the previous middle-class lifestyle. The small homes would need to be 1800 sq ft and sell for 475K. To hit those numbers, I would need to build the home with low-quality finishes. My margins would likely be below 20%. In Utah, the median household income is $87,000. If a buyer puts 10% down (50K), their mortgage would be $3250. That would mean 45% of their income would go towards their mortgage. On the other hand there is a growing segment of high earners that want the very best for their home. In my county, a new 4000-5000 sq ft home will go for 1.3-1.5 million I've watched homes priced over 1 million in my county go very fast. These are bought by people who are either in high-paying jobs or business owners. In today's economy, there are opportunities for people who hustle to make well over 300,000 a year. We also have many people who have migrated to our growing tech industry on that higher income level with a dual income. With a 20% down payment, if you’re buying a home for 1.4M, your payment will be $8150. At $300,000 of household income, it's very attainable. As a builder, I can build that home for $900,000, giving myself a 35% margin. It's obvious to me that developers will build homes that fit one of these two groups. In my humble opinion, I think this puts us on a crash course as a society. As we lose the middle class, resentment will continue to grow.

There were emotional scenes of celebration when Indigenous groups in Brazil got a ruling from the Supreme Court that will help protect their ancestral lands from mining, drilling and farming ⤵️