Posted on 09/23/2008 10:10:30 AM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia
MIAMI (Sept. 23) - Al Ray is so strapped for cash, the only time he eats out is on Wednesday or Sunday, when the local McDonald's sells hamburgers for 49 cents.
(Excerpt) Read more at walletpop.com ...
You are. You are living within your means. Kudos, but your taxes will likely go up to pay for those who are "doing something right."
I love bungalows. Our last two homes were built in the 1920’s. Built-in buffets, window seats and bookcases all out of white oak. Too bad they were in the cesspool of Minneapolis.
We live in a 2004 model now in the sticks. I miss the homes, but not the city.
We have a house 3 doors down that a guy bought and took a huge mortgage on so he could renovate and flip it. Houses here are $75-80,000 average. He has it on the market ( almost a year now)for $139.999 and is crying that he can’t lower it because he won’t make a profit. I almost laughed in his face, I have no sympathy for greedy people.
Yeah, I agree. I am originally from CA myself and know how high the CA Home rates are. I am 42, military now stationed in El Paso, TX. I still do not own my own house, but have found the market in TX much easier to handle on even my salary.
"And yet, the deal will not help Dolly Hanna, 51, and her husband, who bought five homes in the San Francisco area over the past 20 years, and were enjoying life during the housing boom by renting them out.
But her husband's overtime at his mechanic's job was cut, and the Hannas now find themselves overextended at a loss of $15,000 per month and trying two sell two of the homes. With four children, Hanna had been a stay-at-home mom, but Monday she started a job in real estate. They are seeking a renter for two upstairs bedrooms in their primary residence for $1,200.
Getting a loan during the boom was easy, Hanna knows. Too easy.
"All you had to was massage the information enough to fit it into their round hole, and they gave us a mortgage," Hanna said.
So they buy FIVE homes, base their income on overtime, and "massaged" their info. And now WE have to bail them out????
Oh, but haven't you heard? Obama is only going to raise taxes on the rich!
(Still breathlessly awaiting his definition of "rich".)
The best part was that there wasn't a noticeable change in our quality of life. The house is still clean and it's a little more work for me to cook all meals at home, but I do a lot of cooking one day a week then we open jars of soup, chili or stew for dinner the rest of the week and boil some noodles or make rice. Top it off with a quick tossed salad and we're eating. Easy.
I'm proud of what I've done, but ashamed that it took me so long to see the options we've always had available. So much money has been wasted over the years! :-(
So Dolly and her husband, a single income blue collar family, bought 5 houses in one of the priciest housing markets in the country...
How'd they do that? On a mechanic's wage? Who financed that? Should we consider them and the bank to be co-conspirators in a ponzy scheme?
I'd bet a week's pay they're registered Democrats.
Brain cramp on my part. Please forgive me. All is well if Obama is elected.
Everybody spends half of their wages on the government.
Federal, state and local taxes devour over 50 percent of all gross income.
And that total does not include "hidden" items such as social security promises, unfunded pension liabilities to government employees, etc.
Also not included are the costs of various regulations (e.g. clean air), restrictions (e.g. no drilling), compliance (e.g. filling in tax returns), and vast amounts of time wasted with government BS.
Hats off to the MSM idiots for missing the obvious ... again!
Don’t eat at McDonald’s...
LOL, but sadly.
He keeps harping about raising taxes on people earning $250K or more, but I don’t believe him for a second. What he’s done in the past is a better indicator to me than what he says he’s going to do in the future.
If he gets in, stand by.
There was a time in this country when you would not be able to get a mortgage if the payments were more than 25% of your income. The banks simply would not loan the money to you as because the likelihood of defaulting was too high.
I wonder how many late night infomercials we are going to see in the future showing us how to become millionaires by buying property with no money down?
Sounds like it didn’t work out so well for a lot of these would be millionaires.
How is he greedy? I can see how he’s unrealistic in this environment, but greedy?
He does this for a living. He puts so much into renovations that he prices himself out of the market, then whines that he can’t sell them. He has several houses in the area that haven’t sold as of yet.
"And in Las Vegas, the Nevada Fair Housing Center is helping Rita Harvey renegotiate her mortgage from $2,700 to around $1,800 per month.
Harvey, 64, lives on about $3,300 a month in social security and disability payments for herself and her four disabled grandchildren. She nearly lost her home this summer after her adjustable rate mortgage payment jumped.
"I did not understand that in two years, this would adjust out of control," she said. "Nobody deserves what I've had to go through."
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How stupid must one be to not understand that an ARM is going to adjust upward at some point? Or to ask the question: "How much will my payments be then?"
Sorry Harvey, but you do not have my sympathy.
When did eating out become a right??
Now we’ll have to include hamburger vouchers in the bailout package.
And what are the chances of that lady having FOUR disabled grandchildren? Ahem. Very bad luck, that is.
How true. What he is not openly saying is that he wants to raise the tax on capital gains and dividends as well as business. Businesses create jobs, so so much for staying out of a recession. And many people earning less than $250K per year own stocks. They get taxed. Not too mention your (and my) concern that past behaviour will be a predictor for future actions.
In some places, you have to have a skill set that is sufficient to pull in enough to afford a house. If you don't, you should move to a different location.
As other FReepers are saying, some folks should just rent, as they cannot afford to own.
This interference by the gov't has really depressed rental markets. But I think that will correct itself soon, if they don't try to keep their 700 billion plates in the air.
The kids are grown but I still cook by the pot and freeze all my main meal "stuff" for winter....Chili, soup, stew, sauce, pot roast....Hearty, homemade Meals in minutes & lower electric bills.
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