Cob Houses

I copied this conversation from Chance's forums, and thought it was neat enough to post here. I know that to most of you, cob is not news, but it is to me. And for the record, I was sort of joking about the landlord stuff. By the way, Chance's forums are open to all now...there are only a couple of sections that you need a profile and approval to view. But I have to say that anyone who thought they were too raucous or whatever before; well, they're still like that, but some of the less-desireable users have left for the forseeable future, so give it a try. Just have a thick skin. The link to the conversation is here. The link to Chance's forums is in my sidebar.

As follows:

xtina wrote:
So now that it's the weekend, and I have seemingly infinite time, I went and looked at the page on cob houses. And I have to say, that I really want a cob house. I want to build cob houses. Now before you all go screaming hippie hippie, I'd like to state my reason why:

1. Cob is super cheap. You could have a house in like, lots of places. You could have so many houses. As long as you can afford the land, which truthfully, is the most expensive part, you can have an awesome house.

2. Cob is super cheap. Think about it. That article said that there was something like a 13 story earthen structure in Yemen on a fault line. Now, all "cob is so neat it can withstand earthquakes" issues aside...the greedy, greedy capitalist I was raised to be harkens and sees landlording possibilities that were heretofore unattainable in a short period of time. At least, as short a period as cob houses can be afforded in. I could be rich!!!!

That website said that a cob cottage that he built cost $500. Five Hundred Dollars!! Ok, it's not a multi-unit building with a commercial ground level, but I bet you could build a cob apartment complex for like, $10,000. After you buy the land, which is probably on the order of between $100,000 to $200,000, your mortgage on that property (assuming any lender would touch it in the first place) would be between $800 and $2000 per month (depending on rates). Now, let's say you had ten units (a super conservative estimate with 13 stories, really), and you outfitted all of them with viking stoves. You rent each unit for like $500. A bargain, really. Every month, you rake in $5000. Save $1000 for maintenance issues that arise (although from the sound of it, cob houses don't get many maintenance issues), and put the rest toward the mortgage. In something close to ten years (I didn't really do the calculation because I'm lazy, and I rounded way up from what the basic calculation would be), the property is paid off; less if the house was on the order of $100,000, as opposed to $200,000. Now you're earning $5000 per month. You're sort of set. I could, at this point, live comfortably and never complain. But I'm an American. So I say, build three more units, and live in one of them. Take long vacations. Start your own radio station. Shoot...start your own refuge for starving little punks who need a flea dip. Do whatever the heck you want, and all because you realized that dirt is free and you can build crap with it.

Said calculation does not include licensing fees, which can be very pricey. Plus, it would cost way more to make the properties attractive enough for people to want to live in them and pay you for the privilege. The point still stands.

Visit this site. The third house down is especially impressive. The second house was built in 1539. Out of dirt. Which is free.