Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for November 19, 2017

“Also, can we borrow a bucket? We promise to wash it out before we return it.”

okay…

Coming in the not-too-distant future to a community very close to you.

Luxury! Why, we used to dream of living in a storage pod…

(Name that sketch!)

Nick and Nancy are internet entrepreneurs and have earned millions from their pod casts.

This makes sense.

To buy a house is a great problem also here in Italia and many young couples can’t afford a bank loan because their poor jobs

Tiny house nation

A good reality check is being forty years old and realizing that everything you own fits into one storage pod.

But they buy $1000 iPhones.

One look at Nancy has the same effect as a cold shower from a garden hose

I read an excellent article a while back about how home ownership was actually hurting the economy as people could not afford to move because they were underwater on their loans. Owning a home doesn’t make as much sense anymore, never did actually. IF you buy a home for 75,000 and sell it at 10 years for 100,000, you haven’t made money as all similar 10 yr old homes will cost $100,000 and new home even more. The big problem with renting is the landlord might sell the house and you have to move.

Just yesterday my 30 year old son was talking about options for the purchase of a used shipping container, which would be outfitted as living quarters. Apparently this is a thing.

what if their last names was Peeze. then they could be two Peeze in a Pod. Pastis missed an opportunity!

“This economy has issues” – Stephan Pastis

Unless….NIMBY

https://www.ohio.com/akron/business/tiny-houses-are-trendy-unless-they-go-up-next-door

https://www.dwell.com/article/this-awesome-shipping-container-home-can-be-yours-for-dollar125k-3a7898e3

But… a rising tide lifts all boats. Right?

Actually, I’m glad I’m taking night classes on computer coding, because I don’t think I can retire on manual labor. I’m very lucky I have a $650 apartment so close to transit, and realize not many are so lucky.

if they were to shower with my hose, it would be a golden shower.

If you want an affordable house in Ontario, you have to move more than commuting distance from Toronto. Commuting distance used to be an hour; now it’s one-and-a-half to two hours and increasing.

I bought a house (much like the one illustrated above but on a busy street) in the year 2000 for $105,000. It sold this year for four times that. Wages have barely moved in that time. How can people live?

BTW, I live in Kitchener, an hour’s drive west of Toronto.

Donald reads PBS?

So sad and realistic.

xxx

Hah! Check out http://vancouverhouse.ca/. A 400 square foot apartment at C$630k (Vancouver Sun 22 Sep 2017)

Must be Orange County in California.

Stephan, I know this might be insane, but could you make Timmy Failure and Pearls crossover in a way? I am a huge fan of both. I know you already kid of did that in ‘The Cat Stole My Pants’ when you drew the rat and the pig and “Pastis Rools!” when Timmy was in the stall. Also, my uncle died while reading Pearls :(

Nick and Nancy Newlywed are lucky to have chosen so accommodating a neighbor as Paris Goat. Chances are, Rat would not have been so welcoming to their new Tiny House/Storage Unit….

Or what could happen, I was renting and after 5+ years I decided to buy a house. I moved out of the rental and remembered that my deposit wasn’t repaid. I went back to them and was told that my rent should have gone up $50 per year. I told them I did not have a new lease drawn up for the other 4+ years of my rental so I was not getting my deposit and they were using it to pay the extra rent that I was supposed to pay every year.

Staying in your parents’ home is the cheapest…for you newlyweds.

I’ll always have my log.