General Discussion

it cost him $2700 in 1946. A 4 bedroom, one bath Cape Cod with a true dining room not part of the living room

My first house cost 16000 in 1979 ( 5 years out of Vietnam, but not a qualified home for the V.A.-- it didn't have real closet doors.)
It had 2 bedrooms, no separate dining room, 1 bath without a shower...

My current house, which I have built with my own two hands over 18 years is a 3 bedroom variation on the Martin house plan by Frank Lloyd Wright (mine has not a brick facade) Excluding my labor, it's cost me about $300,000. The county says it's worth 561K. and the realtors keep bugging me to sell it for $650k. Blood, sweat, and tears can't be valued and I'll die before I sell it.

There have been huge jumps in housing costs across the decades of my life. You can see it a an American nightmare, and I'd not argue against that. But for long-term family wealth housing, and land value ( I now have the house on 73 acres of which 55 is under the plow and paying more than the property tax) securing a home has been the best investment I've ever made.

When I got divorced at age 43 I felt I'd never be able to get back into property of my own. I worked my way thru that, first securing an old small farm and later with a couple thousand hours of my own labor (mostly in the summer when I wasn't teaching.)

If you really want it, you'll likely find a way. It make take multiple steps and some migration. My 11th great grandfather built my family's first house in America in the 1630's. It stood as the oldest house in New York State until the early 1900s. Do it yourself houses have been a feature of my family legacy. It seems to have always been a slog up a steep economic curve