how many of you live in a cheap house?

[mozirry]

Wife and I have no kids, 25 and 26, don't plan on having any soon, and live in a standard 1950's Ranch style house in the Midwest. Loan itself is just 124k

She's a teacher and I'm an "assistant manager" type person, so together, we both rake in about 4k available funds a month after retirement savings, not really livin the life but we get to go out to eat when we want, nice cable TV package, etc.

Neither of us have any student loan debt, just a 10k car loan. We could probably live in a bigger house then 927 sq feet (we do have a full finished basement though), but I just don't see the point.

To be honest, I think we will live in this house for 10+ years, unless we get better job offers elsewhere.

Seems like that is the new wave for people our age. Alot of people I know are not planning on having kids (of course most of them are accidents when they do happen) or even getting married at all. Seems kind of funny because you would think that all American's strive to have that big house with a soccer team in the SUV.

 

[meltdown75]

That house is a good size for two people.

My wife and I live in a raised ranch, about 1150 sq.ft on the upper floor, with an unfinished basement and only 1 bathroom.

As much as she nags and nags that she wants to finish the basement, I just don't see the point when there's only two of us.

I think cheap housing is smart if you are DINKs... you can always upgrade if you decide to make your family bigger

 

[JJChicken]

+1 for living in a cheap house. Bout 1hr away from the city centre. You live with what you got though. As long I got my ATOT I'm happy.

 

[rh71]

More and more people having kids later in life... because the mentality is "I don't think we're gonna have kids" and then later they realize there would be much more in life for them if they did.

 

[meltdown75]

Originally posted by: rh71
More and more people having kids later... because the mentality is "I don't think we're gonna have kids" and then later they realize there would be much more in life for them if they did.

A girl I work with (well, woman, she is 30 or so... I guess "lady" would be more appropriate) used to go on and on about how she didn't want kids.

Then a few weeks ago she comes in and tells everyone she and her husband are adopting.

Turns out she *couldn't* have kids, so she was just chirping having kids because she couldn't have them.

But anyway they adopted a 2-week old baby boy. Amazing... insta-baby, just add water.

 

[mozirry]

Originally posted by: meltdown75

Originally posted by: rh71
More and more people having kids later... because the mentality is "I don't think we're gonna have kids" and then later they realize there would be much more in life for them if they did.

A girl I work with (well, woman, she is 30 or so... I guess "lady" would be more appropriate) used to go on and on about how she didn't want kids.

Then a few weeks ago she comes in and tells everyone she and her husband are adopting.

Turns out she *couldn't* have kids, so she was just chirping having kids because she couldn't have them.

But anyway they adopted a 2-week old baby boy. Amazing... insta-baby, just add water.

IMO, adoptions aren't so bad because you will already know pretty much what the package is (physical attributes, intelligence, charisma)

 

[meltdown75]

Originally posted by: mozirry

Originally posted by: meltdown75

Originally posted by: rh71
More and more people having kids later... because the mentality is "I don't think we're gonna have kids" and then later they realize there would be much more in life for them if they did.

A girl I work with (well, woman, she is 30 or so... I guess "lady" would be more appropriate) used to go on and on about how she didn't want kids.

Then a few weeks ago she comes in and tells everyone she and her husband are adopting.

Turns out she *couldn't* have kids, so she was just chirping having kids because she couldn't have them.

But anyway they adopted a 2-week old baby boy. Amazing... insta-baby, just add water.

IMO, adoptions aren't so bad because you will already know pretty much what the package is (physical attributes, intelligence, charisma)

from a 2-week old? wow i guess i suck at babies

 

[mozirry]

Originally posted by: meltdown75


from a 2-week old? wow i guess i suck at babies

lol, no, I meant like probably a 2-4 year old kid. I would be afraid to adopt a new-born baby

 

[onlyCOpunk]

It just depends where people's priorities are.

If people want an unnecessarily large house and matching hummers let them have it. It's when people start lording their material possessions over others is where it gets silly.

But in most of the American mind big house/big car=i'm better then you

 

[Slew Foot]

Idiocracy

The trailer park and ghetto arent stopping having kids, heck that's likely most of their income.

 

[Joemonkey]

Gotta love living in KY, $70,000 house with ~1500sq feet of living space, plus ~500 feet of workshop/unfinished basement type space

 

[Descartes]

Nothing at all wrong with "cheap" housing, but everyone is different. Personally, I'd have difficulty in ~1000sf of space with another person. We have too many things that really need their own space for that to be feasible.

 

[Jumpem]

Mine is a 12 year old 3 bedroom, 1500sq.ft., on 4 acres. We paid $117k.

 

[Baked]

Makes me wanna move to North Dakota... stupid CA housing market... mother@#$%^&s.

 

[ChaoZ]

Mine isn't cheap but it feels cheap.

 

[potato28]

Small, but not exactly cheap. Great location though, near developing commercial areas.

 

[kranky]

Ours is cheap, but it's paid for.

 

[DaveJ]

My house was cheap, ~$87K for 1600sqft. It's just me here, and it's plenty big enough. I would have bought a smaller house, but my parents were moving and I got a great deal. It's now 7 years later and I think it was well worth it. My mind bluescreens when I hear about houses in the 400/500/600K range... howTF do people afford that, unless they're making a lot more than I do...

 

[WTurner]

Cheap housing rocks!!

Back in 2005 the wife and I had a home built outside of Louisville, Ky. 5 acreas, almost all flat was about 30k. The house was about $75k to have built. House is 2 story, 2 bed+2bath with a full basement. If we finished the basement we could have 2 more bedrooms and 1 more bath. Right now the house is 1200 s/f with detached 2 1/2 car garage. House will be paid for in about 5 years (weee!).

I don't understand people who must have a 2500 s/f house in a ritzy area. Seems like a waste of $$$. My wife is a banker (about 40k/y) and I'm an IT guy (about 50k/year). Neither of us went to college, we have no debts, we drive new cars (both paid for). We are able to have a nice small home and nice cars and other nice things (home furnishing and taking trips) because our mortgage is low. Sure we could buy a 300k house but why? We would be broke then. We are both 24.

We are going to take on some debt this fall though. My wife is starting pre-law and in the spring I am starting med school (pharmacy). Once we are out of school our year income should double for our area (90k becomes 180k). Are we going to get a bigger house? Hellz no! We'll be investing the rest. I want to retire at 55.

 

[Q]

Originally posted by: meltdown75

Originally posted by: mozirry

Originally posted by: meltdown75

Originally posted by: rh71
More and more people having kids later... because the mentality is "I don't think we're gonna have kids" and then later they realize there would be much more in life for them if they did.

A girl I work with (well, woman, she is 30 or so... I guess "lady" would be more appropriate) used to go on and on about how she didn't want kids.

Then a few weeks ago she comes in and tells everyone she and her husband are adopting.

Turns out she *couldn't* have kids, so she was just chirping having kids because she couldn't have them.

But anyway they adopted a 2-week old baby boy. Amazing... insta-baby, just add water.

IMO, adoptions aren't so bad because you will already know pretty much what the package is (physical attributes, intelligence, charisma)

from a 2-week old? wow i guess i suck at babies

 

[Dirigible]

I got the worst of both worlds. Both small (~1200 sq ft) and fiendishly expensive (even though I bought seven years ago).

But I like living here and after tax deductions it costs the same as renting in this neighborhood. And rents are going up while my payment stays the same.

 

[I Saw OJ]

I live in California, so no.

 

[RKS]

Originally posted by: WTurner
Cheap housing rocks!!

Back in 2005 the wife and I had a home built outside of Louisville, Ky. 5 acreas, almost all flat was about 30k. The house was about $75k to have built. House is 2 story, 2 bed+2bath with a full basement. If we finished the basement we could have 2 more bedrooms and 1 more bath. Right now the house is 1200 s/f with detached 2 1/2 car garage. House will be paid for in about 5 years (weee!).

I don't understand people who must have a 2500 s/f house in a ritzy area. Seems like a waste of $$$. My wife is a banker (about 40k/y) and I'm an IT guy (about 50k/year). Neither of us went to college, we have no debts, we drive new cars (both paid for). We are able to have a nice small home and nice cars and other nice things (home furnishing and taking trips) because our mortgage is low. Sure we could buy a 300k house but why? We would be broke then. We are both 24.

We are going to take on some debt this fall though. My wife is starting pre-law and in the spring I am starting med school (pharmacy). Once we are out of school our year income should double for our area (90k becomes 180k). Are we going to get a bigger house? Hellz no! We'll be investing the rest. I want to retire at 55.

So without undergrad degrees and mortgage payments (and don't forget tuition unless you are getting loans); I assume at least one of you is going part-time. If she is going for a JD and you are going to become a pharmacist you are probably looking at least 7 to 10 years before both of you are working in you respective field.

I applaud you both for your goals and wish you the best of luck but you are in for some major life events.

As far as us; when we got married we never wanted to be 'house-poor'. In case either of us stopped working (attorney and cardiac rehab) we wanted to be able to afford our house. We have a tri-level that is about 1900 SF. We have now outgrown the home due to a large dog and 2 rugrats but it comes at the same time that my 'rents want to downsize from their mcmansion.

 

[PieIsAwesome]

Originally posted by: I Saw OJ
I live in California, so no.

 

[alkemyst]

Cheap house is relative on when you bought it.

I know a dude off a major canal to the intercoastal here that bought in 1980 for $110k (something like that...under $200k)...the place is worth a cool million even in this shitty real estate market.

He has deep boat dockage, a cabana, about 5,000 sq ft, luxury galore and he is paying about half what I do for 1788sq ft inland. I bought 6 months ago for $265k (net about $255k as part of the deal paid off two credit cards, my hazard insurance for a year, and ALL closing costs. I had $500 back at closing even for some repairs.