Mortgages weren't even really a thing, until 70 years ago, at least in Canada. Even then, most people saved, bought land, and slowly built their house.
Others just bought land from a neighbour, and paid them over a few years. And of course, even into the early 80s, there were still places in Canada where you could go, stake (fence) and work land in for 5 years, and it was then yours.
It's hard to imagine that such a strong cultural financial norm wasn't popular just 70 years ago. I have a relative who was in his late 20s that long ago so I'm going to ask him about his early experiences with home ownership next time I see him. Do you have any relevant reading you can recommend?
> saved, bought land, and slowly built their house.
That's what I'm trying to do now. It seems like there is opposition of some kind every step of the way. For example, it isn't uncommon to have a time limit on your building permit. So you can't just slowly build. And you can easily end up buying land that you're not allowed to build on at all. And I'm not just talking about zoning.
