As a renter, who cannot afford to buy, I am getting tired of hearing about "home

[Texacon]

Wahhhhhhh!!!!!! I'm 29 and I still can't afford a house!!!!!

RadicalTexan (181 posts)     
Fri Oct-10-08 09:34 AM
Original message

As a renter, who cannot afford to buy, I am getting tired of hearing about "homeowners"

A very large chunk of Americans are renters.

I am 29, have a "good" job, and cannot even begin to think about buying - "starter" homes and condos in my region start about $200,000 out of my price range. Nevermind that like most middle- and lower-class college graduates my age, I have significant student debt and very limited job options at this point. I was also smart enough not to try to get a 120%, 50-year, variable rate mortgage.

I realize that a lot of homeowners who did nothing wrong, who are responsible, are in a position to lose their homes, and I want the government to do something about it. But I am tired of all the pandering to "homeowners" and resent the implication that my money will be used to bail them out. Who's going to bail me out? When do I get to own a home?

/rant
 

This thing is huge with lots of infighting.  Should be fun!

KC

[JohnnyReb]

Is having used your student loan to buy beer and dope beginning to look stupid yet?

[Texacon]

"starter" homes and condos in my region start about $200,000 out of my price range.

I don't know if it is saying the starter homes are $200k or they are $200k out of its price range but I think this DUmmie is in Austin.  I have several friends in the Austin area and one of them is selling a very nice home in a pretty nice neighborhood for around $175k.  This is a 4 bedroom 2 1/2 bath 2 car garage home.  Fenced yard ... nice place.

I think this DUmmie is either a mole (and doing a damn good job) or is simply an attention whore.

KC

[Texacon]

RadicalTexan (183 posts)     
Fri Oct-10-08 10:37 AM
Response to Reply #33

36. My landlords are two heirs who live in another state and own the entire, large property outright.
 I think inheritance should be almost completely abolished.
 

Real wisdom here;

GreenPartyVoter  (1000+ posts)     
Fri Oct-10-08 11:14 AM
Response to Reply #2

57. It's ridiculous, isn't it? I hate the way the real estate agents around here have ramped up
 the home prices. You know who can afford to buy homes in our area? Summer people from away, that's who.

"Screw the locals, let's give some rich people from NYC or wherever a nice little summer "cottage" at the dreamy price of $300K or above."
 

How in the hell does it think real estate agents have that kind of power?   

There is simply too much to bring over.  Funny stuff but actually, surprisingly, a few with the right idea.

KC

[tuolumnejim]

The libtard mentality in a nutshell.

snappyturtle  (1000+ posts)      Fri Oct-10-08 02:38 PM
Response to Original message
4. I hate to say this because I don't want to sound flip...but life isn't fair. nt
 

   
 

BlueJazz  (1000+ posts)      Fri Oct-10-08 02:49 PM
Response to Reply #4
14. True...But...It's up to all of us to try to make it fair.
 Having said that...Trying to make it fair is almost an unsurmountable task.

[Zeus]

Been awhile since I checked( a couple yrs) but last I check avg sales price of homes in Austin was $125,000.

[asdf2231]

Nice find Tex! 

[Texacon]

Nice find Tex! 

hehe  Thanks!  Here is a fun little back and forth;

TahitiNut   (1000+ posts)       
Fri Oct-10-08 11:11 AM
Response to Original message

53. I've heard the "renter's lament" for over 40 years. Nothing's changed. 
 Edited on Fri Oct-10-08 11:11 AM by TahitiNut
My first (small!) home was purchased under the G.I. Bill with no money down. Why don't you enlist?
Friends lived with family for years and banked their salaries. Why don't you move into a parent's basement?
Other friends rented a VERY small place, furnished it with 2nd hand furniture, banked one salary 100% for 4 years, and then bought a "starter home" (cheapest in its neighborhood) and worked their asses off renovating it.

EVERYONE starts somewhere and only the heirs to the wealthy live "in the style they see themselves as deserving."

No matter how long I've heard this lament, it's always with this background chorus of "oh, no, I couldn't possibly live in THAT neighborhood!" It's a chorus I find dissonant with truly liberal attitudes.


 "There are two things which cannot be attacked in front: ignorance and narrowmindedness. They can only be shaken by the simple development of the contrary qualities. They will not bear discussion." — Lord Acton
"Nobody makes a greater mistake than he who does nothing because he could only do a little." — Edmund Burke
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RadicalTexan (185 posts)      Fri Oct-10-08 11:22 AM
Response to Reply #53

63. Wow. Staggering.
 Edited on Fri Oct-10-08 11:24 AM by RadicalTexan
1. I don't want to join an imperialist army, sorry. I shouldn't have to kill foreigners for the elites to be able to buy a house. Just - wow.

2. I have lived with my parents since graduating college, after a really bad breakup with a bad faith longterm partner who abandoned me, which left me in debt I am still paying off three years later, and will be paying for two more, at least. I saved up enough money to get the hell out of the Freeperville I grew up in, and moved to Austin.

3. I don't have a second "salary to bank 100% of for four years" - like many Americans, I am single and barely scraping by, renting, on one salary. A "starter" home within reasonable distance to my work (I consider reasonable bus-able, bike-able, or walkable, as I currently walk to work and am thus neither dependent on a car nor contributing to pollution), starts at about $200,000. I would rather live in "that neighborhood," too. Sadly, even the "bad" neighborhoods in my town are now out of my price range.

Everyone has it hard. I just wish those of us who haven't been able to put ourselves in a position to be able to buy a home weren't being ignored by the media, the politicians, and people like you who are "got mine!" and "pull yourself up by the bootstraps!" types.

 
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TahitiNut  (1000+ posts)        Fri Oct-10-08 11:49 AM
Response to Reply #63

77. Look, a***ole ... I HAVEN'T "got mine" ... any more. 
 Edited on Fri Oct-10-08 11:53 AM by TahitiNut
I'm 65 and "unemployable" (black-balled for whistle-blowing) and LOST over $100K in an upside-down mortgage/foreclosure due to employment issues ... and got wiped out ... and am now sole 'caregiver' for my widowed 89-year-old mother.

So, don't give me a bunch of whiney ... "woe is me" ... BULLSHIT.

It's the SAME ****ing story, time after time. When I was getting ****ed over ROYALLY for whistle-blowing, co-workers, bureaucrats, and others hid out and "didn't want to get involved." After all, THEY had their problems too, right???

It's this "**** you ... What about ME???" attitude that accompanies the 40 years of "renter's laments".

EVERYONE wants to **** over everyone else. It's those "irresponsible borrowers!"" Finger-pointing and whining self-serving "what about me?"

I've BEEN there and DONE that ... and NOBODY stood up to be counted for me, either. Well, I WILL speak out for the folks who've been screwed by predatory lenders! You want to whine that "they" don't deserve it? Tough shit. I've heard that shit when I was being screwed, too!



Oh ... and the notion that veterans and draftees are some subspecies without YOUR enlightened sensibilities about killing innocent civilians for some imperialist army??? Well, I've heard "baby killer!" before, too. My response to such imbeciles? "GO **** YOURSELF, YOU DELUSIONAL FART!"

 


 "There are two things which cannot be attacked in front: ignorance and narrowmindedness. They can only be shaken by the simple development of the contrary qualities. They will not bear discussion." — Lord Acton
"Nobody makes a greater mistake than he who does nothing because he could only do a little." — Edmund Burke
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Pacifist Patriot  (1000+ posts)        Fri Oct-10-08 12:02 PM
Response to Reply #77

84. Thank you. Being an army brat that response pretty much sent me over the edge. 
 Edited on Fri Oct-10-08 12:06 PM by Pacifist Patriot
The army was pretty much the only way my dad could get out of poverty. It's bad enough he was spat upon at the airport when he returned from Vietnam. But to hear this holier than thou crap really pisses me off. Let's see how long we do with no army to speak of whatsoever. I am done with this selfish whiney jerk who refuses to see that his situation is hardly unique, but does indeed have widespread sympathy. Except that it isn't exactly the crux of what is going on right now. Why he cannot understand why his situation isn't being trumpeted in the media is beyond me.
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RadicalTexan (185 posts)      Fri Oct-10-08 12:08 PM
Response to Reply #84

88. I appreciate that some people join the army cause it's their best option
 and I lament that it is so. Our country is very screwed up.

I also don't think most soldiers and sailors and bloodthirsty murderers. On the contrary, I think they are people like your dad, and my grandfather, who served at Okinawa, and who says the Navy, during war, was "a hell of a lot better than picking cotton."

But to suggest, in a time that we are engaged in an illegal occupation to enrich the elites, that I should join the army or shut up, is ridiculous.
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RadicalTexan (185 posts)      Fri Oct-10-08 12:04 PM
Response to Reply #77

86. Wow, way to take points out of context and post a badly-written, ad hominem screed
 I am sorry for your losses. I don't want you to be in your position, either. That's why I'm voting for Obama.

 

KC

[Zeus]

I think the primary reason many folks don't succeed is they find to many excuses why they can't do something instead of reasons why.

[jendf]

He's a whiner and a Democrat. The two go hand in hand.

There's no shame in renting at 29.

I'm 30 and live in a rented apartment. Based on my salary and current home values, I cannot afford a home either.

But I'm not about to go sobbing to my senators for a handout.

I chose a low-paying profession and I made some bad choices that got me into debt. They were both of my own doing. With time, patience, and hard work, I'm reversing my situation and will one day own a home of my own.

[franksolich]

I chose a low-paying profession and I made some bad choices that got me into debt. They were both of my own doing. With time, patience, and hard work, I'm reversing my situation and will one day own a home of my own.

As we all have, and will.

That's the difference between primitives and decent civilized people.

[Zeus]

He's a whiner and a Democrat. The two go hand in hand.

There's no shame in renting at 29.

I'm 30 and live in a rented apartment. Based on my salary and current home values, I cannot afford a home either.

But I'm not about to go sobbing to my senators for a handout.

I chose a low-paying profession and I made some bad choices that got me into debt. They were both of my own doing. With time, patience, and hard work, I'm reversing my situation and will one day own a home of my own.

Looser 

[USA4ME]

RadicalTexan

I was also smart enough not to try to get a 120%, 50-year, variable rate mortgage.

Congratulations on being smart enough not to obtain something that never existed.  You want a cookie?

.

[ScubaGuy]

mike_c  Donating Member  (1000+ posts)  Journal  Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Fri Oct-10-08 10:59 AM
Response to Original message
22. right on-- I'm 53 and in EXACTLY the same situation as you...
   
Edited on Fri Oct-10-08 11:01 AM by mike_c
...and I too am a bit peeved that we're having to "bail out" people who weren't smart enough to recognize the scam-- and I don't mean just the ARMs and the like. I live within my means-- well, I have a car loan and student loans, like you, but I can afford to make the payments. But there has NEVER been a time in my life when buying a house wouldn't have severely lowered my standard of living, which is pretty simple as it is. Just to make some banker richer? I don't think so.

Like you say-- where is OUR bailout?

53 and Bug boy still has student loans?

I wasn't quite 22 when I graduated and all my loans were paid off well before I was 25 so that I could get that new sports car and then a house.

[debk]

Congratulations on being smart enough not to obtain something that never existed.  You want a cookie?

.

50 yr mortages came out in either late 2006 or early 2007, with and without adjustable rate mortgages. If a person puts their closing costs into their mortgage, depending on the value of the house and the closing costs, around here, it's at least 4-6% of the mortgage. My office has a Wells Fargo affiliate in house and WF had the 50 yr mortgages at that time. I don't know if they are still available or not.

Mortgage origination fees and points may increase the percentage amount.

No mortgage company expects a borrower to live in a home for 50 yrs....what a 50yr mortgage does is stretch the payments out so far that the payment is lowerr. Course 99% of it is interest, too.

With the expectation that the value of the property will increase, under normal market conditions, this is not necessarily a bad mortgage. However, with the housing market tanking in many places.....the house value is lowered, thereby putting the borrower in an upside down mortgage situation.

No one anticipated the economy to crash to this extent.

[GOBUCKS]

It pains my soul to say it, but if more people were a little, just a little, like DUmmy RadicalTexan, we would be in a better place financially right now.

Of course, he's whining and puling like the normal democrat, consumed with envy because other people have more than he does, but financially the bottom line is that he did not go out and take a mortgage that he can never hope to service.

Regardless how poor his credit, how lowly or non-existent his employment, he could no doubt have taken part in the insane adjustable rate, no-money-down, interest-only, pick-a-payment mortgage scandal, and would now be whining and puling about foreclosure instead of renting.

RadicalTexan undoubtedly labors under a very low level of intelligence. He is, after all, a DUmmy. But he has been, probably accidentally, much more financially responsible than the millions who kicked off the current economic dislocations.

[jukin]

I'm with the DUmmy on this.

We had 115%, no down, no qualification, 1% loans.  These people are not losing anything.  In fact they probably walk with a new car, a big screen, and a new wardrobe while they rented a house at below market rates.  The majority of these sub-prime loans have the people walking with no money in the house and more money in their pocket.

Irresponsibility should never be rewarded.

[jtyangel]

53 and Bug boy still has student loans?

I wasn't quite 22 when I graduated and all my loans were paid off well before I was 25 so that I could get that new sports car and then a house.

He may have went to school later or at least finished his advanced degree later in life.

[Zeus]

He's a whiner and a Democrat. The two go hand in hand.

There's no shame in renting at 29.

I'm 30 and live in a rented apartment. Based on my salary and current home values, I cannot afford a home either.

But I'm not about to go sobbing to my senators for a handout.

I chose a low-paying profession and I made some bad choices that got me into debt. They were both of my own doing. With time, patience, and hard work, I'm reversing my situation and will one day own a home of my own.

If mistakes were made and you recognize those mistakes and have taken steps to prevent repeating them hang in there. Instant gratification isn't where it is at,a little short term pain for long term gain is. It's not a lack of having that's most folks mistake it's a lack of discipline/plan & what they do with what they have.

[USA4ME]

50 yr mortages came out in either late 2006 or early 2007, with and without adjustable rate mortgages.

I've owned and operated my own mortage company for 20 years.  There's no such thing as purchase money for a 120% LTV, 50-year, variable rate mortgage.

.

[Servonaut]

He's a whiner and a Democrat. The two go hand in hand.

There's no shame in renting at 29.

I'm 30 and live in a rented apartment. Based on my salary and current home values, I cannot afford a home either.

But I'm not about to go sobbing to my senators for a handout.

I chose a low-paying profession and I made some bad choices that got me into debt. They were both of my own doing. With time, patience, and hard work, I'm reversing my situation and will one day own a home of my own.

I'm 45 and rent too.  I could buy a house but I can't see myself spending the rest of my life
in Houston.  It's just where I work.  When I get good and ready to retire I'm off to Deming, NM
and build my house. 

It will be one of these.



   

[bijou]

I'm 45 and rent too.  I could buy a house but I can't see myself spending the rest of my life
in Houston.  It's just where I work.  When I get good and ready to retire I'm off to Deming, NM
and build my house. 

It will be one of these.



   

What a cool structure, I love that design.  Does it have 2 floors or is it a very large one storey house?

[Servonaut]

What a cool structure, I love that design.  Does it have 2 floors or is it a very large one storey house?

You can check them out here bijou

http://www.domehome.com/

The floor plans.

http://www.domehome.com/plans.html

I like the Poplar.
 

[bijou]

You can check them out here bijou

http://www.domehome.com/

The floor plans.

http://www.domehome.com/plans.html

I like the Poplar.
 

Thanks for the links.  I like the way they are suitable for either ultra modern fittings or quite traditional fittings.  With the house in Vermont you'd hardly know you were in something so unusual. 

[Traveshamockery]

I live in Austin and there are homes to be had for $125,000.00.  They aren't the nicest but would be fine for a first home.