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I'm almost certain the people don't actually buy the homes on most shows. I've proven they didn't on Buying Alaska. At least on Property Virgins they look at sometimes a hundred homes (which is reality when purchasing a home) not just three like the fake shows.
On most HGTV shows, the owner must already have purchased a home in order to get onto the show. The rest is all drama created for the viewer. Google the show name and "fake" to get more details on each show.
With a $30 an hr minimum wage two minimum wage workers could buy a $360k house.
Typical left way of thinking.. And where is the business going to come up with the money to pay such a high minimum wage? They'll raise prices, the price of EVERYTHING will go up that includes housing. If minimum wage was $30hr the average home would cost $750,000 in Kentucky. If you want $30 an hour work hard, go to school and land a $30hr job.. Just about anyone can go to a local community college for $5000 and get a 2 year nursing degree and walk out of school making around $30hr or more with overtime.
There is always going to be someone at the bottom, that's just the way it is unfortunately. Raising minimum wage will literally do nothing other then raise the price of everything around us.
Location: Stuck on the East Coast, hoping to head West
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The whole concept of home ownership is delusional. As long as you have a mortgage, you do NOT own your home.
Belong to an HOA?-they have a stake in your house, too. Try missing an assessment and see how fast they take your house. Don't like HOAs? Try finding a house that's not part of one.
Even if you own your home outright, fail to pay taxes and see how fast your home is sold out from under you.
Home equity is illusive. You can believe that you have $100,000 equity all you want. Until you sell, you can't use it and it doesn't exist.
I've run the numbers on various "ownership" scenarios and it just doesn't make financial sense to own a house. I have owned for 20 years and it has been the biggest financial mistake of my life. I have the spreadsheets to prove it. No, I did not buy above my means, I do most, if not all, of my own maintenance, I had 20% down, had savings, etc.
Also, home maintenance is a never-ending. You can't defer it. Either you pay someone to do it, you do it (huge cost of your time), or you take the hit when you sell.
You just can't underestimate lost opportunity costs of owning. You also can't underestimate the flexibility renting provides.
A final thought: I do not know a single person who has actually paid off their home in 30 years. I know people who have paid cash for their house (so they have hundreds of thousands locked up in a house, go figure); but I do not know anyone who actually took out a mortgage and paid it off.
A final thought: I do not know a single person who has actually paid off their home in 30 years. I know people who have paid cash for their house (so they have hundreds of thousands locked up in a house, go figure); but I do not know anyone who actually took out a mortgage and paid it off.
I know a few. My parents for example.
Others tend to sell and moves so they never tend to stay in one place for 30 years. Most of my friends parents downsized upon retirement, so they would sell their (warning, overpriced MA price alert) $500K home (that they bought for $80K in the 80's, and go out and buy a $150-200K condo and save the rest. If they jumped around to a few times, they've typically rolled over equity so that by the time they go to retire, they have enough equity to pay cash for their last home. That's typically what I've seen done in my neck of the woods.
So, you're claiming that half of all adults are out of work? Uh-huh. Another scare tactic from the sky-is-falling crowd:
People in the US in 2010: 308.7 million.
People under 18 in the US as of 2007: 73.7 million.
People 65 and older in the US as of 2010: 40.3 million.
People between 18 and 65 in 2010: 194.7 million.
Full time college students: 13 million. Part time college students: 7 million.
Stay at home moms: 10.4 million.
Disabled people who are not working: 14.1 million.
Early retirees under age 65: easily 20 million, maybe more. There's probably 35-40 million people in this group. About half of people turning 62 start collecting SS at that age. Millions more who have defined benefit pensions retire between 55 and 65.
BTW, much of Maine has always been an economic backwater, even back in the 19th century, for the same reasons it is today: isolated and few resources.
Even taking these numbers at face value, the fact that ~5% of the population is "disabled" and cannot work at all is indicative of the mess this country is in.
The average life of a "thirty year mortgage" is only 7 years I believe-people move, sell, refinance, etc.
So yes, most do not ever pay off their mortgage over 30 years.
I think those days are over. That was popular when equity was growing at 6-10% Yr/Yr. It depends on the area really, but near me equity is fairly stagnant. If that holds true, I would take more like 10 years to break even.
The whole concept of home ownership is delusional. As long as you have a mortgage, you do NOT own your home.
Belong to an HOA?-they have a stake in your house, too. Try missing an assessment and see how fast they take your house. Don't like HOAs? Try finding a house that's not part of one.
Even if you own your home outright, fail to pay taxes and see how fast your home is sold out from under you.
Home equity is illusive. You can believe that you have $100,000 equity all you want. Until you sell, you can't use it and it doesn't exist.
I've run the numbers on various "ownership" scenarios and it just doesn't make financial sense to own a house. I have owned for 20 years and it has been the biggest financial mistake of my life. I have the spreadsheets to prove it. No, I did not buy above my means, I do most, if not all, of my own maintenance, I had 20% down, had savings, etc.
Also, home maintenance is a never-ending. You can't defer it. Either you pay someone to do it, you do it (huge cost of your time), or you take the hit when you sell.
You just can't underestimate lost opportunity costs of owning. You also can't underestimate the flexibility renting provides.
A final thought: I do not know a single person who has actually paid off their home in 30 years. I know people who have paid cash for their house (so they have hundreds of thousands locked up in a house, go figure); but I do not know anyone who actually took out a mortgage and paid it off.
My dad did it....twice.
First house was in the city, fairly small. Bought with a mortgage back when rates were in the double digits. He (actually both of my parents) lived very frugally and threw lots of extra money at it. It was paid off before I even needed to start Kindergarten.
When that time came, the paid off house was sold and the proceeds used for a down payment on a bigger house in a better school area. That mortgage was in turn attacked with a vengeance and paid off way ahead of schedule.
First house was in the city, fairly small. Bought with a mortgage back when rates were in the double digits. He (actually both of my parents) lived very frugally and threw lots of extra money at it. It was paid off before I even needed to start Kindergarten.
When that time came, the paid off house was sold and the proceeds used for a down payment on a bigger house in a better school area. That mortgage was in turn attacked with a vengeance and paid off way ahead of schedule.
My parents did it twice too. Same sort of scenario.
My husband and I just bought a house two years ago that was "below our means." We have a chunk of equity in it and have been steadily paying it down faster than the payment schedule. We're about to pay off two vehicles and will add those payments to our mortgage payment, and we're also about to recast our loan by putting a big chunk down on it and thus lowering our payments.
We will be effectively cutting 18 years and 3 months off our loan, and saving over $69,000 in interest payments. We'll have the loan paid off in ten years. That's IF we only put an additional $700 each month toward the payment. If we put $1000 extra in each month, we will pay the house off in a little over seven years and save an additional $8000 in interest payments! WOOOOHOOOOO!!!!! I know which scenario I prefer. Hope I can get my husband to go along with it!
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