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Escape the City: Live Small, Cheap, and Safe in America

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By Helen Hotson @ Shutterstock.com

After decades of urbanization, Americans are beginning to rebel against the “bigger is better” mentality of city-living. Seeking a smaller, more affordable, sustainable, and secure lifestyle, some are venturing out from the mega-cities in search of a different life.

A number of techniques have become popular in an effort to save, especially scaling down the size of one’s home. Living small and saving big is even better when it’s coupled with living in a state that treats you more like a human than an ATM machine it can withdraw money from.

Carey L. Biron explains this trend at Thompson Reuters Foundation, writing:

Disaffected Californians make up a substantial number of clients for Black Rifle Real Estate, which says online that it helps people “Flee the City to the freedom and safety of Rural America and the famed American Redoubt.”

Broker Todd Savage said his business is at an all-time high, driven by frustration with how many U.S. cities are governed.

“Most of our clients are now looking to sell their postage-stamp size properties … and make what we call a ‘Strategic Relocation’ to a free state,” Savage said in an email.

Driven by new demand, the company is expanding outside of the so-called Redoubt — to Arizona, which Savage said enjoys lower taxes and far looser gun controls than liberal California.

“Arizona is the new Idaho for many seeking relief from the tyranny in California,” he said.

EMBRACE LAND

Conservatives are not alone in the new land rush.

Haynes said his clients in North Carolina are evenly split between survivalists and “homesteaders” — young, liberal, less affluent families seeking peace, quiet and a sustainable life.

“When I started out in 1973, the big thing then was the ‘back to the land’ movement,” said Neil Shelton with the Ozark Land Company, a developer active in Missouri and Arkansas.

What he is seeing now is a “new iteration” of that movement, he said, and one driven by innovation: the pre-built ‘tiny home’, typically 400-600 square feet.

Small structures have made home ownership more affordable, he said, for some accelerating the new mood of escapism.

“This tiny-house movement is the biggest thing I’ve seen since” the 1970s, Shelton said.

Kim Moore, 63, said she and her husband had bought nearly 60 acres in North Carolina after enjoying a holiday there.

“I’m not a survivalist, but as much as possible, I’d like to live on the land,” she said.

The article shows that there are a number of reasons for fleeing the city, but they all involve finding and preserving a better quality of life. This theme is echoed in “Prepare and Live. Don’t Prepare and Die,” one of my favorite pieces from my father-in-law Dick Young. Read it below:

Sorry for the unpleasant kickoff to this week’s Lifesaver, but as the days pass, I become more and more concerned for the majority of Americans. As you know, my goal for your and my family is personal and financial security. I spend a lot of time on the subject of radical Islamic terrorism and the broad spectrum of personal self-defense. I speak with few Americans who have even the remotest self-defense skills or a basic comprehension of what will happen in America if critical public services, like electricity and water, are knocked out for an extended period. By example, knockout electrical service and here’s what would not function: every city elevator, ATM cards and banks, municipal water and waste systems, gas stations, and most security systems. I’m just picking some of the more obvious scabs here. But when you figure that food store shelves would empty within hours, pharmacies would not open, and cell service could be knocked out, clearly things would go downhill fast.

In such a setting, residents in big cities draw the shortest of the short straws, as rioting would ensue in a hurry. Suburban soccer moms would certainly draw a short straw, as there would be no gasoline availability to get out to the big box food stores, never mind Billy’s soccer game. And nuts, dad would no doubt be stuck on the 39th floor (sans lights and air conditioning) of some downtown business tower, not to be seen again, well, for who knows how long. Winners would be those prepared individuals living in warmer climates and in rural or controlled settings, such as an island, where incoming hordes could be headed off by a military presence.

I wish I did not feel as I do about all of this, but my extensive reading allows me to become increasingly concerned as time passes. And now we have our young, thoroughly unprepared president in Washington listening to the neocons and kicking yet another military hornets nest. Talk about stupidity. I, like the Founders, believe that the U.S. should be neutral, avoiding entangling foreign alliances, including NATO and the U.N., which I would begin preparations to exit. It is easy to make an ironclad case for why we should never have gotten into the Korean, Vietnam, Iraq or Afghan wars. And my view on the Civil War, WWI and WWII is quite different than the rewriting of history that today’s history books teach the kids.

The more I read, the more different my view is on the status of our country in relation to the intentions of our Founders. It is for this reason that I have been giving some thought to “The Founders Party” and have introduced “The Liberty and Freedom Initiative.” Quite honestly, we have been abandoned and lied to by government at every step. Most Americans are now thoroughly unprepared to provide personal and financial security in an increasingly hostile environment, as many critical stress points continue to weaken as the days pass. And my concerns continue to build as the gentleman I view as the biggest single risk to my personal security, Justice Stephen Breyer, takes his foggy interpretation of the Second Amendment to Fox News. America’s 1st Freedom reported on Breyer’s Second Amendment view. Speaking of his “pragmatic” approach to judicial philosophy, Breyer told Chris Wallace that Justices should regard the Constitution as containing unwavering values that must be applied flexibly to ever-changing circumstances.

I wish I were making this up, but it is all on the horrific video you can view below. President Obama is on record as wanting to permanently reinstate an “assault weapons ban.” Well, let me tell you from the vantage point of one who has a little experience with guns of all varieties, an assault weapon, especially the AK47 I own, is the very weapon I want in my hands should the going get tough. No way any handgun or non-semi-automatic rifle is going to do the job.

Did you know that there is more firepower per capita in Switzerland than in any other country in the world? Yet Switzerland is THE safe place to be. As Machiavelli wrote in 1532, “The Swiss are well armed and enjoy great freedom.” If you were not concerned before I gave you the Breyer quote, you may be now. In the next installment of my personal survival series I will begin to layout the resources I rely upon, my top 20 ultimate survival items, and many of the preparations I have made in recent years. There is no downside in being prepared. But being prepared is difficult for many due to inertia and location, the big kahuna of preparation. For those already positioned in disaster’s crosshairs (i.e., a big city co-op building), no end of very bad things can and will happen.

The images included give you an idea of what really prepared looks like:

 

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com