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To: SamAdams76
A simple comparison of sanity.

My father bought his old house for an amount roughly equal to his income in 1978. If I attempted to by that house today, at rouhgly the same age, but a higher relative income than he had, I'd have to pay twice MY income to live in a neighborhood which simply is not as nice today.

That is rampant inflation and it is probably not sustainable. It is becoming very difficult for ordinary people to buy houses in mnay areas.

14 posted on 02/16/2003 12:09:05 PM PST by Hermann the Cherusker
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To: Hermann the Cherusker
"It is becoming very difficult for ordinary people to buy houses in mnay areas."

Just wait till SS and Medicaid taxes explode. Most homes are going to be vacant but still out of reach for young working families. The boomers on the other hand will have paid off their mortgages and will be sitting pretty.

18 posted on 02/16/2003 12:13:27 PM PST by KantianBurke (The Federal govt should be protecting us from terrorists, not handing out goodies)
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To: Hermann the Cherusker
That is rampant inflation and it is probably not sustainable. It is becoming very difficult for ordinary people to buy houses in mnay areas.

There is an upper limit to how big a percentage of their income people will be willing to spend on fancy housing. In the past, people were willing to plop down a big chunk, in the expectation that housing prices would increase faster than inflation, and that their income would rise and make their mortgage payments a smaller part of their future income

Once those expectations are shattered, the bubble will burst. People will have a choice between spending 40% of their net income on a house in the suburbs, or getting an apartment and having more disposable income. An increasing number of people will forego the suburban house

A lot of communities have artificially propped up real-estate prices by enacting legislation that limits the amount of available housing, whether by restricting development, or the kinds of houses that can be built, or the minimum size lots. This will only work in the short term. In the long term, people and businesses will move to where real-estate prices are reasonable

81 posted on 02/16/2003 1:28:57 PM PST by SauronOfMordor (To see the ultimate evil, visit the Democrat Party)
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