Letters to the Editor
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Why would you do that?
Can you imagine selling your house for tens of thousands of dollars less than you owe on your mortgage?
Smart choices in home ownership generally mean that this won't happen. While the cycles are slower, the same rules apply to buying homes as to buying stocks - if the investment was well thought out, yes there will be ups and downs, but if you hang on in the bad times, good times will come again.
Buy a home you can afford, and you can make the payments on it even if its value goes down. Buy a home that can be easily rented and you've got yourself covered if you have to move during a down cycle.
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Renting Sucks
I live in the Denver area and you basically can't find a house out here for under $200,000.
You can find a couple -- but those properties don't have plumbing!
So I'm a renter. How much does my piece of shit 2 bedroom house with no air conditioning cost per month?
$1200!
And out here that's considered a freaking bargin!
What the hell is going on in America?
The housing market needs a major, major correction -- houses in America in general are over valued by about 50 percent! All those damn home improvement shows have convinced people that if they add $1,000 worht of new cabinets that entitles them to add another $50,000 to the re-sale value. Get 50 million people doing it and suddenly the new price becomes the market standard. It's not worth that, but it becomes that way because so many people are doing it.
Our parents bought brand new houses for $73,000!
Now? You can't find a peice of crap for under $200,000 -- and what's even worse is that almost no one (homebuyers, that is) seems to really find that price unusual.
Used to be in America if you couldn't afford a house you could rent -- but the rents are skyrocketing wildly out of control too. My current landlord just raised my rent by $150!!! Um, for what? Did he add a pool? Actually add air conditioning? Improve the propery in any way, shape or form?
Nope. Greedy son of bitch simply said he noticed other rental properties going for more and "realized" he was offering his house for less than he thought he could get.
The other crappy rentals on my crappy street we going for more -- so he jacked up the price because, hey, what ya gonna do? Move? Move where? Since EVERYONE is jacking up their prices you can't go somewhere cheaper because all the greedy bastards are doing it.
20 year old houses with no air conditioning and foundation problems (and a 20 min drive to the nearest supermarket) should be selling for $73,000 -- NOT $250,000!
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Owning Property is Boring?
I'd love to be bored!
Over the last 7 years I've always paid my rent on time and it's always been about $1,000.
Go to the bank to get a mortgage and they say my credit sucks.
If you're late paying American Express -- that stays on your account for 7 years and drops your score. Didn't pay that $5,000 hospital bill in exactly 30 days. BOOM! You just lost another 20 points. Closed a credit card? BOOM! Lost another 50 points. Tried to open a credit card, but were denied because your hospital bill dropped your score to low? BOOM! You dropped another 10 points.
But the rent gets paid on time every single month!
Banks don't give a shit about rental payments when determining your mortgage qualifications.
So you get stuck renting. Or you could take their "deal" and pay 25 percent interest on a 250,000 loan....assuming you put at least $25,000 (in cash ideally) as a down payment.
I don't really want to spend 250,000 on a 30 year old house with foundation problems, a leaky roof and no central air and a 20 year old furance -- but I really can't afford to relocate to a different state, change jobs, etc in order to find cheaper housing.
So I'm stuck renting.
Do I want to rent? No. Do I make enough to pay a resonable mortgage on a resonably priced home? yes. Will any of these freaking banks (or these freaking sellers) allow me to do that? No.
The American dream is dead and the freaking banks and greedy home owners killed it.
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Based On A True Story....
Your bride gets a job in Detroit, 160 miles from where you live... You rent or buy a house or something in Detroit, but nobody buys your old house back in good old Grand Rapids...
SO! You rent the old house out for peanuts... And you need to drive back across the state, at least once a week, to cut the grass, tweak the toilets, collect rent, kiss the tenants' stinky butts, and so on.
This is the reality. It does not work very well. Do not give me your theoretical scenarios. And, my friends, what if the bride had gotten a job in Denver or Toronto or Amsterdam? (Too far away to drive back)???
Wanna buy a house? The owning thing blows in some real estate markets right now. The American House Dream is dead, and that death is coming to Beautiful Your Area. Good luck.
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Not owning a home could reduce foot print
Hi,
The rootless part is only half true in countries like India where the rural population is slowly migrating to the city in search of greener pastures.
I live in Chennai, India chronically challenged for living space.
We moved here for work reasons and dont have any ancestral property that suddenly turned into a gold mine in chennai. If we decide to but a home here it would be a good 10-20 km from urrent school and work places. So we rent instead.
We save the co2 on commuting, traveling far to get to good restaurants or places of entertainment. We also probably keep one farm in the outskirts of this big city from becoming a residential area.
SO, Viva for the homeless and the rootless.
KPKS
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Who OWNS the LAND under "your" house???
Abolition of Private Property...the FIRST Plank of the SOCIALIST Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto's 10 Planks to SOCIALIZE a nation..
How to go about that in America....why.....condition the people to accept the premise that they OWN the land AND THE HOUSE/PROPERTY on it....
Property Tax and Zoning Laws and HOA's...a triangulation that is embedded in American Culture....
What would happen if YOU Mr. Homeowner, who owns your 4 bedroom estate in Piscataway, REFUSES on PRINCIPLE to pay this years PROPERTY TAX bill as you believe that PROPERTY TAX is THEFT and YOU OWN your home..Fee and Clear...and you have NO KIDS to pay for schools...so...you politely refuse to file and write letters saying you absolutely refuse to pay PROPERTY TAX
You will get the letters....increasingly curt and threatening...you refer them to your previous letters highlighting the words ABSOLUTELY REFUSE
Then the First Lien Letter....then..the Court Issuance to Appear..then....the Escheat sale...then...the Issue to Vacate..then the the Sheriffs order...
One Saturday morning you are on the front porch looking at the assembling copcars....you stand up on your porch and say THIS IS MY HOUSE I AM NOT LEAVING....then the Sheriffs Detail marches up to your front door and you ask them to leave and they say that they have an warrant for your arrest and you say you are not leaving your home..the one you "own" and have payed PROPERTY TAXES for years....but they remind you that you are not the legal owner anymore....and that to come with them right now...you refuse and REMIND THEM YOU ARE NOT LEAVING..and show them your registered AR15...at about this time the story ends..and the news that day will say that a man resisted arrest and was killed in the aftermath....
The GOVERNMENT is the FINAL LEIN HOLDER not! you or the Bank!
because they OWN the LAND under "your" house....
the way to address "private property"....
It is all legal...of course..
and what does that say about America and private property and our remaining freedoms...
It says it is almost a total charade...
this is also how the State OWNS your vehicle..THE MINUTE you put a lisence plate on your vehicle THE STATE owns it.....it is NOT yours...
oh well....now to get ready to go support the War on EastAsia...