Everywhere you look, the housing market is crumbling, foreclosures are increasing, gas prices and other expenses are rising, and people are looking for a way to live cheaper, without having to move into their cars.

There are a couple of creative things enterprising people are doing where they actually live for free, without paying rent or a high mortgage payment. At all. And I'm not talking squatting in some abandoned building. They're living in beautiful homes. In many cases, homes they could never hope to afford.

What they're doing is filling a need. Taking advantage of the slim silver lining in a very black cloud. Predatory? Maybe. But the way the situation is lately, it's become survival of the fittest. And right now the fittest are living in luxury, without spending a dime.

There are a few catches. You have to be flexible. Very flexible. And willing to move if the situation in the house you're in changes. Even though some people have stayed in homes 8 to 10 years and sometimes much longer, in many cases the stay can be just a few months. Which is why this is an alternative best left to the single and unencumbered.

So how do you ditch your landlord or mortgage company and live the free and easy life? Here are three ways:


1. Foreclosures Suck For the Owner and the Bank. Not For You.
Because the foreclosure rate is so high - and many homeowners chosen to cut and run rather than deal with the humiliation of legal proceedings - there are many houses that have been left unoccupied. What happens to a home that is left without anyone living in it? It deteriorates. Quickly.

Realtors and banks can't ...There's more