SOLD!!!

 4106

Pt. 1

The federal government has released some pretty suspect inflation figures lately. 

8 percent? 

C'mon now

Lately, every commodity from French fries to Fereri's has risen faster than the mercury in a thermometer on hot day. 

Five or six weeks ago, after I came in from my pre-sunrise bike ride, I "gotta hankering" for a "McDonald's Big Breakfast with Flap Jacks." 

After I ordered, the order taker announced the price. 

"That will be $6.39, Sir." 

Of course, I thought, 

"That seems a bit high for pancakes, what looks like a filet of scrambled eggs, a piece of sausage the size of a silver dollar, and a rectangular raft of ground potatoes." 

Fast forward two weeks, and I decided I would make that same old familiar pilgrimage to my local McDonald's which I have made many times before. As I stopped next to the familiar parking lot stand-up menu, and ordered the "McDonald's Big Breakfast with Flap Jacks" (again), the lady at the first window said,

"That will be $7.59, Sir."

In the space of two weeks, the price had increased by $1.20, (or over 15 percent). 

I thought,

"Hmmm, 15 percent is definitely more than the (mythological) U.S. annual inflation rate of 8 percent."

Pt. 2

And the price of houses. Forget it. 

Florida is in the midst of a housing boom. Everywhere you look trees are being bulldozed, foundations are being poured, walls are going up, and shingles are being nailed into place. And for each and every new domicile which gets laid in, the Zillow.com and Realtor.com estimate of everything from a fifty year old single wide dilapidated trailer to what has been referred to as a "project home" climbs into the proverbial stratosphere. 

I googled the address of my parent's old home the other day; while adding the prerequisite "Zillow" after it.

                                               $224,800

Excuse me?

I mean, this is a seventy five plus year old concrete block, 1,000 square feet house which my parents purchased about 1955, for all of about $3,000, when it was almost new. If my (somewhat rusty) calculations are correct, over the past 70 years we're looking at a 7,500 percent increase in price! (And I expect a third to one half of the total percentage of increase has occurred in the past 5-10 years).

(Of course, I won't deny, inflated prices can also be somewhat of a blessing. We paid $77,000 for our current home in 1989. Today it is valued at $270,000)!

I was driving through a nearby town where I have my post office box the other day, and passed a business I have driven past multiple times in the last thirty years. I can't tell you the name of the business, but they sell storage sheds there. 

And as I was driving past this place for the ka-zillioneth time, I noticed a young couple standing next to one of those sturdy, miniature barn-like sheds, and another lady, apparently the business owner, standing in front of them. 

The young couple were holding a large "SOLD" sign, and the third person was in the process of taking their picture. 

And I could not help but think,

"Hmmm. Given the price of homes these days, you could spend $2,000 on one of those 'jobbies,' install a couple of windows, and a window AC unit, beg, buy or borrow a 20x20 foot plot of land, and viola, the answer to these ridiculous prices."

Perhaps the couple who I described, above, had that exact same idea. They seemed mighty proud of their purchase. (At least, I think the lady who sold them the shed felt mighty good about it)!

by William McDonald, PhD