My neighbor finished paying off her house in 2024.
She bought it in 1994 for $78,000. Thirty years of payments at $593 a month.
She's 74 now. Social Security pays her $1,910 a month. That's $22,920 a year.
The place two doors down sold for $615,000 last spring, so the county reassessed hers to match.
Her tax bill this year: $8,100. That's $675 a month.
She paid $593 a month to buy the house.
She pays $675 a month to keep it.
Thirty years of payments ended and the bill went up.
The deed says she owns it. The county bills her like she's renting.
The "Great Resignation" happened because people did the math and realized working 50 hours a week still leaves them one medical emergency away from homelessness. The system promised that hard work = stability. That contract is void. People aren't lazy, they're just done believing the lie.